Session 9:

Resilience This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

(Part 1)
SANA KHOSA
Etymology

 Latin Verb Resalire – ‘to jump back’ or ‘to recoil’

 Re- back and Salire – to jump, leap
 Resilience – 1620s – ‘act of rebounding’
Concept of Resiliency

 Difficult to find another concept that has gained so much attention in disaster
studies recently
 Field of engineering mechanics (1850s) – strength/flexibility of materials
 Fairly newer concept in Disaster Studies
 Field of psychology – some children able to cope despite stressors
 Also emerged in environmental and development studies – climate change
What is Disaster Resilience ?
Conceptualizations and Definitions
 “…the ability to survive and cope with a disaster with minimal impact and damage
…[along with] the capacity to reduce or avoid losses, contain the effects of
disasters, and recover with minimal social disruption.”
(Cutter et al., 2008, 600)
 “…the ability of a system, community, or society exposed to hazards to resist,
absorb, accommodate, and recover from the effects of a hazard promptly and
efficiently by preserving and restoring essential functions”.
(Jha, Miner, Stanton-Geddes, 2013, 10)
 …in a timely manner…
Definitions and their central ideas

 Resistance or absorptive capacity - even after a stressor, the

community can function well. (also referred to as inherent resilience).
(built-env such that losses are minimal, building codes, retrofitting
older at risk structures, maintenance of bridges, etc.)
 Coping and adaptive capacity – sometimes resistance measures will fail
and adaptation will overcome the lack of resistance. (also called
dynamic resilience)
 Example of the ‘resistance' dimension of
resilience
 Two earthquakes – a month and a half apart – but different impacts
 January 12, 2010 – Haiti Earthquake – 7.0 magnitude – Massive devastation in the
capital city and surrounding cities – 220,000 people perished.

 February 27, 2010 – EQ Off the coast of Chile/tsunami – 8.8 magnitude – 500 people
died.
 Lack of earthquake resistance in built-environment – collapsed buildings killed people –
differences in prosperity of the two nations – Chili has learned from its past experiences
and built better and stronger.
So when resistance fails, we must
adapt/cope/innovate/recover
 Prepare well as resistance might fail – planning, training
 Respond effectively – timely warning, timely evacuations, search and rescue,
emergency medical care, sheltering, debris removal, any cascading effects, fixing the
overall disruptions caused (adaptive part of resilience)
 Adaptation is more than restoring back to normal or what existed before the disaster.
 Adaptation “brings about change of some kind, and successful adaptation should lead
to improved resistance and adaptive strategies… “bouncing forward” instead of
merely “bouncing back” (p.172).
If we want to represent this graphically…
A state or a process?

 Household resilience
 Community resilience
 “…a set of processes or activities that societies and communities
undertake in their efforts to reduce disaster-related risks”(p. 174).
Let’s pause.

 Is resilience the opposite of vulnerability?

 Or can vulnerable people impacted adversely by disasters be
resilient and cope better than others in their same community?
Resilience Building

 Physical infrastructure strengthening

 Shared community values
 Resources and skills
 Organized governmental services and institutional support
 Economic development and capital
 Social capital
Social Capital and Disaster Resilience

 Social connections/networks
 Relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition
 “…features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate
coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit” (Putnam, 1995, 67).
 Friends, friends of friends, colleagues, acquaintances, other contacts – rely on them or seek
them for purposive action.
 Social networks give rise to norms, obligations and sense of trust – through which
information can flow (Coleman, 1988)
Social Capital and Disaster Resilience

 When you belong to social networks – you rely on reciprocity

 When someone does a favor in a friendship network, you will feel
obligated to reciprocate that/feel obligated to do so.
 Social embeddedness and a sense of belonging
 Civic mindedness and civic engagement
 Collective action to realize their goals
 Types of Social Capital

 Bonding social capital - relationships within a group

for support, information, access
(people working together on the issue of homelessness)
 Bridging social capital - linkages that exist between
two or more groups of different types – expansion of
resources/support
(working on common objectives but different inherent
nature of groups- housing needs and mental health needs)
 Linking social capital – between groups and centers
of power/influence like govt entities.
(establishing connections with policy makers and those in
power to solve the problem of homelessness)
Community with high Social Capital

 Political participation (voting)

 Volunteering
 Individuals and households involved in social work/NGOs
 Embeddedness
 Social support
 Community attachment
 Feeling of trust and belonging
Sociologist Eric Klinenberg (2002) studied two apparently similar
Chicago neighborhoods during the 1995 Heatwave but there was a
huge difference in mortality.

 Neighborhood 1
Death rate higher
Fear of crime kept people in their homes
Levels of social interaction was low
More transients living in the community
Community engagement was low
 Neighborhood 2
Death rate lower
Bustling commercial center
People knew each other
Met on a daily basis in stores/streets
Immigrant community ties were strong
Catholic Church served as a hub
Wrap-up

 Resilience - an integral concept

 Two core features – absorptive and adaptive capacities
 Social capital – bonding, bridging and linking