Living with disasters: social capital for disaster governance

Maria De Lourdes Melo Zurita,Paul G Munro,Brian Cook,Timothy F Smith,John Gallina,Dana C Thomsen

doi:10.1111/disa.12257

Abstract

This paper explores how social networks and bonds within and across organisations shape disaster operations and strategies. Local government disaster training exercises serve as a window through which to view these relations, and 'social capital' is used as an analytic for making sense of the human relations at the core of disaster management operations. These elements help to expose and substantiate the often intangible relations that compose the culture that exists, and that is shaped by preparations for disasters. The study reveals how this social capital has been generated through personal interactions, which are shared among disaster managers across different organisations and across 'levels' within those organisations. Recognition of these 'group resources' has significant implications for disaster management in which conducive social relations have become paramount. The paper concludes that socio-cultural relations, as well as a people-centred approach to preparations, appear to be effective means of readying for, and ultimately responding to, disasters.

Highlights

The concept of ‘social capital’ has emerged as a key area of discussion in disaster research (Pelling, 2003; Nakagawa and Shaw, 2004; Pelling and High, 2005; Aldrich, 2012a), owing primarily to the widely accepted premise that ‘natural’ disasters can be best defined as the entanglement of natural hazards with vulnerable populations (Susman, O’Keefe, and Wisner, 1983; Varley, 1994; Hoffman and Oliver-Smith, 1999; Pelling, 2001; Wisner et al, 2014)
This paper focuses on the local government sector in the state of Queensland, Australia, and assesses how it has responded to broader modifications of disaster governance
The managerial dynamism promoted after the southeast Queensland floods in 2010–11 allowed local governments to develop a series of networks that enables the emergence of a disaster management culture that engenders learning and capacities

Summary

Introduction

The concept of ‘social capital’ has emerged as a key area of discussion in disaster research (Pelling, 2003; Nakagawa and Shaw, 2004; Pelling and High, 2005; Aldrich, 2012a), owing primarily to the widely accepted premise that ‘natural’ disasters can be best defined as the entanglement of natural hazards with vulnerable populations (Susman, O’Keefe, and Wisner, 1983; Varley, 1994; Hoffman and Oliver-Smith, 1999; Pelling, 2001; Wisner et al, 2014). A social capital analytic is applied to a case study of Queensland to explore the socio-cultural relations that shape disaster management in formal disaster response agencies, critically appraising the changing approaches and structures in the state’s disaster governance.

Results

Conclusion