Global Perspectives on Social Capital and Health by Ichiro Kawachi Soshi Takao & S. V. Subramanian

Author:Ichiro Kawachi, Soshi Takao & S. V. Subramanian
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

7.1.4 Findings Regarding Social Capital and Disaster

In this section, we introduce the roles that social capital plays in each phase of disaster by reviewing several articles on social capital and disaster.

Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in Japan, 1995

Nakagawa and Shaw (2004) reported the various roles that social capital plays in disaster resistance and recovery and suggested the importance of social capital to resilience. On January 17, 1995, at 5:46 a.m., an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale struck the Hanshin-Awaji area of Japan. More than 6,400 people died, 43,000 people were injured, 104,000 homes were completely destroyed by the earthquake, and 7,000 homes were completely destroyed by fires. During the disaster, the government had limited operational capacity; thus, individuals and their neighbors played important roles in responding to the disaster. In the Mano area of Kobe, town development organizations and a historically active civic movement were in place prior to the earthquake. After the earthquake, intensive community activities were conducted, including extinguishing fires immediately after the earthquake, pursuing rescue efforts, evacuating affected residents to nearby schools, establishing a community kitchen, and providing night guards. The fire-related efforts produced a remarkable contrast between the disaster-related outcomes of the Mano area and the Chitose area, where fires destroyed nearly everything. After the disaster, various community activities, such as conducting building inspection surveys, publishing a weekly community newsletter, implementing a signature collection campaign, and lobbying for the construction of public housing, resulted in more rapid adaptation and recovery. During the reconstruction, there were many difficulties (e.g., negotiations between residents and the government), and there were obvious differences in the speed and the degree of community involvement. Bonding, bridging, and linking social capital were considered to explain the differences between the two towns’ recovery from the disaster.

Aldrich (2011) also examined the association between social capital and recovery following the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake. His quantitative data analysis revealed that the number of NPOs created per capita, used as a social capital variable, was significantly associated with recovery, measured by population growth and adjusted for damage, population density, economic conditions, inequality, and other variables. Importantly, his results showed that social capital was the strongest and most robust predictor of population recovery after a catastrophe.

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