When everything falls apart, can communities come together?
From an article by Behavioural Scientist
In 2011, a 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Japan triggered a 60-foot tsunami and the meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. When political scientist, Professor Daniel Aldrich and his colleagues looked at cities along Japan’s coast, they found substantial variation in death rates and recovery.
The variation wasn’t particularly surprising given that some cities were hit harder than others. But the variation couldn’t be explained solely based on the severity of the tsunami: some of the biggest waves hit cities with hardly any casualties, while much smaller waves wiped out nearly a tenth of the population.
Intrigued by these outliers, Daniel Aldrich spent three of the next seven years in Japan. He conducted over 100 interviews and collected data on everything from wave height to crime rate to voter behaviour. He concluded that both death rates and subsequent recovery could be predicted by the interconnectedness of a community—or the strength of its social ties.
“The core elements of recovery don’t come from outside the community,” said Aldrich. “They come from inside it.”
Social ties matter from the moment disaster strikes. Sociologist, Professor Lori Peek, Director of the Natural Hazards Centre explains, “If you’re going to get saved in a disaster, it’s most likely not going to be the hero with the cape … flying in from 20 hours away. It’s going to be your neighbour.”
Hurricane Helene struck the south-eastern United States in September 2024, killing over 200 people—the highest death toll from a hurricane in the U.S. since Katrina in 2005. Days later, Hurricane Milton hit the same region. Together, the two storms caused an estimated $80 billion of damage.
Millions face the daunting task of recovery. How do individuals and communities behave in the face of disaster? Why are some able to rebuild, while others crumble further?
In one town’s case, shortly after the storm cleared, the owner of the local construction business brought his equipment into town and became the de facto leader of a group of volunteers clearing debris. Other residents built makeshift aid stations to serve hot food and Krispy Kreme donuts. A local DJ took a break from shovelling mud out of his storefront to play music for volunteers. One of the most robust findings in the social science of disasters is that panic is relatively rare—prosocial behaviour is the norm.
In a study of 38 landslides around the world, 77 percent of those rescued were found by their neighbours. During the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan, nearly all the rescues were done not by first responders but by neighbours who knew where in the rubble their neighbours were sleeping.
Social ties are also crucial to recovery. People who know their neighbours are more likely to return to their communities. Once they return, they are more effective in banding together to rebuild. Beyond the physical work, they also form systems of “informal insurance” to share food and watch each other’s children, pooling resources that become scarce during disasters.
Of course, social ties are not all that matter. Formal aid from government funding and insurance pay-outs supercharge recovery efforts. But there are several reasons researchers look to social ties to understand how a community might recover:
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Markets and physical infrastructure can fail but one of the few guarantees during a disaster is that neighbours face it together.
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Certain types of aid only become available once the debris is cleared. Without the social ties to coordinate that initial clean-up, communities may struggle to unlock the funding essential for a full recovery.
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Social ties are even more important for groups more vulnerable during disaster like the elderly and poorer communities.
Strong relationships also allow more people to contribute. For example, after a fire in 2010, a group of seniors in Colorado developed a ham radio network and trained locals as operators. In 2013, they used it to successfully evacuate a group of seventh graders stranded by flooding.
“Being vulnerable doesn’t mean that you’re not resilient,” said sociologist Nnenia Campbell. “When we tap into the strengths of everyone in the community, it makes the whole community stronger.”
Survival and recovery often come down to how well people take care of each other. As the frequency and severity of natural disasters increase, how do we build more resilient communities?
Read the full article here.
See these articles as well re actions on building resilience:
Resilience in turbulent times? The answer is community.
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Bringing back the power of community
Let's continue to build community - by pursuing the Common Good
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From an article by Behavioural Scientist, 25/02/2025