Abstract
Social capital plays a significant role in post-disaster community participation and disaster recovery. This study divides social capital into three aspects: Cognition, structure, and relation, and discusses the impact of these factors on community participation in post-disaster recovery. Through data analysis, we found that a self-organized relationship villager network had a positive effect on villagers’ participation in voluntary community activities after an earthquake, while the local cadre relationship network had a negative impact. However, the latter could encourage villagers to participate in disaster-recovery activities organized by the local government. These findings indicate that the mobilization mechanism for post-disaster local-government reconstruction and community self-organization are the same, both coming through the social-acquaintance network, a type of noninstitutionalized social capital. The implication of this study suggests that local government should attach much importance to the construction and integration of social networks in earthquake-stricken areas to cultivate community social capital.
Highlights
China is among the countries that are frequently faced with disasters, and various disasters related to natural hazards that take place in China often cause severe damage
The more years of education a villager had, the wider the social networks and the richer the social capital they had, making it easier for the villager to integrate into the surrounding living environment
The influence of villagers’ “years of education” on “participating in reconstruction activities organized by the local government” was not significant, which indicated that villagers with a higher socioeconomic status would be more likely to participate in post-disaster recovery activities organized by local government
Summary
China is among the countries that are frequently faced with disasters, and various disasters related to natural hazards that take place in China often cause severe damage. Post-disaster recovery has become a tricky problem that governments and victims have to face. For disasters related to natural hazards, researchers pay more attention to the social factors involved in the hazard-preparation stage, activation stage, and recovery stage beyond the physical consequences after occurring. Governments at all levels and communities played important roles in the process of post-disaster reconstruction. Community participation was critical to post-disaster recovery [3,4]. Social-capital factors, such as the characteristics of interpersonal relationship networks and community reciprocity norms, influenced community participation in post-disaster recovery [5]. It is of vital importance to discuss the impact of formal institutions (local government) and informal institutions (social capital, relationship networks, etc.) on community participation after a disaster, both theoretically and practically
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
