Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluating social capital in emergency and disaster management and hazards plans

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Natural Hazards Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Natural hazards and disasters pose a serious threat to society. Efficient hazard plans are a county’s prerequisite in preparing for potential disasters and serve as primary tools to reduce community vulnerability and enhance resilience. Incorporation of structural and non-structural mitigation and recovery strategies are both important to reduce damages and for overall community development from a risk reduction perspective. However, typical pre-event planning and post-disaster recovery processes often have limited incorporation of important non-structural mitigation measures such as social capital into their overall planning. Previous studies have evaluated the quality of planning documents; however, a detailed evaluation of non-structural mitigation strategies such as social capital in existing planning documents is still lacking. This study evaluates the presence of social capital in hazards plans and aims to better understand, through stakeholder engagement, the role of social capital in disaster management and planning. Evaluation and coding results indicate that there is a limited incorporation of types of social capital such as social network, role of social organizations, shared narratives, and community participation for recovery and planning process.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Availability of data and material

Secondary data source is planning documents. Primary data source is stakeholders interview. Both data source is available.

Code availability

NVIVO software used for the analysis.

References

  • Adger N (2003) Social capital, collective action, and adaptation to climate change. Econ Geogr 79(4):387–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger WN (2006) Vulnerability. Glob Environ Chang 16:268–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adger WN, Hughes TP, Folke C, Carpenter SR, Rockström J (2005) Social-ecological resilience to coastal disasters. Science 309(5737):1036–1039

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Airriess CA, Li W, Leong KJ, Chen ACC, Keith VM (2008) Church-based social capital, networks and geographical scale: Katrina evacuation, relocation, and recovery in a New Orleans Vietnamese American community. Geoforum 39(3):1333–1346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aldrich DP (2011) The power of people: Social capital’s role in recovery from the 1995 Kobe earthquake. Nat Hazards 56(3):595–611

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aldrich DP, Meyer MA (2015) Social capital and community resilience. Am Behav Sci 59(2):254–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aldrich DP, Meyer MA, Page-Tan C(2018) Social Capital and Natural Hazards Governance. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science. https://www.preventionweb.net/go/62509

  • Allen K (2006) Community-based disaster preparedness and climate adaptation: local capacity building in the Philippines. Disasters 30(1):81–101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baer WC (1997) General plan evaluation criteria: an approach to making better plans. J Am Plann Assoc 63(3):329–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berke PR, Campanella TJ (2006) Planning for postdisaster resiliency. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci 604(1):192–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berke P, Cooper J, Aminto M, Grabich S, Horney J (2014) Adaptive planning for disaster recovery and resiliency: an evaluation of 87 local recovery plans in eight states. J Am Plann Assoc 80(4):310–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berke PR, Dixon J, Ericksen N (1999) Coercive and cooperative intergovernmental mandates: a comparative analysis of Florida and New Zealand environmental plans. Environ Plan b: Urban Anal City Sci 24(3):451–468

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berke PR, Malecha ML, Yu S, Lee J, Masterson JH (2019) Plan integration for resilience scorecard: evaluating networks of plans in six US coastal cities. J Environ Planning Manage 62(5):901–920

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berke P, Newman G, Lee J, Combs T, Kolosna C, Salvesen D (2015) Evaluation of networks of plans and vulnerability to hazards and climate change: a resilience scorecard. J Am Plann Assoc 81(4):287–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berke P, Smith G, Lyles W (2012) Planning for resiliency: evaluation of state hazard mitigation plans under the disaster mitigation act. Nat Hazard Rev 13(2):139–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bogard WC (1988) Bringing social theory to hazards research: conditions and consequences of the mitigation of environmental hazards. Sociol Perspect 31(2):147–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brody SD (2003) Are we learning to make better plans? J Plan Educ Res 23(2):191–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burby RJ (2006) Hurricane Katrina and the paradoxes of government disaster policy: bringing about Wise Governmental decisions for hazardous areas. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci 604(1):171–191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burby RJ, Deyle RE, Godschalk DR, Olshansky RB (2000) Creating hazard resilient communities through land-use planning. Nat Hazard Rev 1(2):99–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burt R (1992) Structural holes the social structure of competition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Burton C, Mitchell JT, Cutter SL (2011) Evaluating post-Katrina recovery in Mississippi using repeat photography. Disasters 35(3):488–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castiglione D, Dethvan JW, Wolleb G (2008) The handbook of social capital. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Chamlee-Wright E, Storr VH (2011) Social capital as collective narratives and post-disaster community recovery. Sociol Rev 59(2):266–282. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02008.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colten CE, Kates RW, Laska SB (2008) Community resilience: lessons from New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. CARRI Res Rep 3:1–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Colten CE, Sumpter AR (2009) Social memory and resilience in New Orleans. Nat Hazards 48(3):355–364

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutter SL (1996) Vulnerability to environmental hazards. Prog Human Geogr 20(4):529–539

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutter SL, Barnes L, Berry M, Burton C, Evans E, Tate E, Carolina S (2008) Community and regional resilience: perspectives from hazards, disasters, and emergency management. Geography 1(7):2301–2306

    Google Scholar 

  • Cutter SL, Boruff BJ, Shirley WL (2003) Social vulnerability to environmental hazards. Soc Sci Q 84(2):242–261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutter SL, Burton CG, Emrich CT (2010) Resilience indicators for benchmarking baseline conditions disaster resilience indicators for benchmarking baseline conditions. J Homel Secur Emerg Manag. https://doi.org/10.2202/1547-7355.1732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutter SL, Emrich CT (2006) Moral hazard, social catastrophe: the changing face of vulnerability along the Hurricane Coasts. Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci 604(1):102–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutter SL, Finch C (2008) Temporal and spatial changes in social vulnerability to natural hazards. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 105(7):2301–2306

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalton LC, Burby RJ (1994) Mandates, plans, and planners: building local commitment to development management. J Am Plan Assoc 60(4):444–461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drabek TE (1985) Managing the emergency response. Public Adm Rev 45:85–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dynes RR (2005) Community social capital as the primary basis of resilience. University of Delaware, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott J, Haney T, Sams-Abiodun P (2010) Limits to social capital: comparing network assistance in two New Orleans neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Sociol Q 51(4):624–648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (2011, October 1) Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC, US

  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)  (2011, December) A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC, US

  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (2012, March 30) National Preparedness Report. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC, US

  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) (2018, March 1) Community Planning/Capacity Building and Florida’s Recovery. Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC, US

  • Florida, Post Disaster Redevelopment Planning (PDRP) (2013) Florida Department of Community Affairs. http://www.dca.state.fl.us/fdcp/dcp/PDRP/overview.cfm

  • Frazier TG, Walker MH, Kumari A, Thompson CM (2013) Opportunities and constraints to hazard mitigation planning. Appl Geogr 40:52–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukuyama F (2001) Social capital, civil society and development. Third World Q. 22(1):7–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giddens A (1986) The Constitution of Society: outline of the Theory of Structuration: University of California Press. Routledge, York

    Google Scholar 

  • Godschalk DR, Beatley T, Berke PR, Brower DJ, Kaiser EJ (1999) Natural hazard mitigation: recasting disaster policy and planning. Island Press, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Godschalk DR, Brody S, Burby R (2003) Public participation in natural hazard mitigation policy formation: challenges for comprehensive planning. J Environ Planning Manage 46(5):733–754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goulden M, Adger W, Allison E, Conway D (2013) Limits to resilience from livelihood diversification and social capital in lake social-ecological systems. Ann Assoc Am Geogr 103(4):906–924

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter M (1992) Economic institutions as social constructions: a framework for analysis. Acta Sociologica 35(1):3–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins RL, Maurer K (2010) Bonding, bridging and linking: how social capital operated in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Br J Soc Work 40(6):1777–1793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horney JA, Naimi AI, Lyles W, Simon M, Salvesen D, Berke P (2012) Assessing the relationship between hazard mitigation plan quality and rural status in a Cohort of 57 Counties from 3 States in the Southeastern US. Challenges 3(2):183–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horney J, Nguyen M, Salvesen D, Tomasco O, Berke P (2016) Engaging the public in planning for disaster recovery. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 17:33–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Innes JE, Booher DE (2010) Planning with complexity: an introduction to collaborative rationality for public policy. Routledge, London; New York

  • Johnston D, Becker J, Paton D (2012) Multi-agency community engagement during disaster recovery. Disaster Prev Manage: Int J 21(2):252–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones N, Clark J, Tripidaki G (2012) Social risk assessment and social capital: a significant parameter for the formation of climate change policies. Soc Sci J 49:33–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kamal MA, Hassan SM (2018) The link between social capital and disaster recovery: evidence from coastal communities in Bangladesh. Nat Hazards 93:1547–1564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krippendorff K (2004) Content analysis: an introduction to its methodology. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwok A, Becker J, Paton D, Hudson-Doyle E, Johnston D (2019) Stakeholders’ perspectives of social capital in informing the development of neighborhood-based disaster resilience measurements. J Appl Soc Sci 13(1):26–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Q, Hannibal B, Mostafavi A, Berke P, Woodruff S, Vedlitz A (2020) Examining of the actor collaboration networks around hazard mitigation: a hurricane harvey study. Nat Hazards 103:3541–3562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin N (1999) Building a network theory of social capital. Connections 22(1):28–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin N (2001) Social capital a theory of social structure and action Structural analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lyles W (2015) Using social network analysis to examine planner involvement in environmentally oriented planning processes led by non-planning professions. J Environ Planning Manage 58(11):1961–1987

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyles W, Berke P, Smith G (2014) Do planners matter? Examining factors driving incorporation of land use approaches into hazard mitigation plans. J Environ Planning Manage 57(5):792–811

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manatee County, Post Disaster Redevelopment Plan (PDRP) (2008) Manatee County Emergency Management Department. https://www.mymanatee.org/departments/public_safety/emergency_management/recovery_plan

  • Manatee County, Comprehensive Plan (2014) Manatee County Building and Development Services. https://www.mymanatee.org/departments/building___development_services/planning___development/comprehensive_planning/comprehensive_plan

  • Manatee County, Local Mitigation Strategies (LMS) (2014) Manatee County Emergency Management Department. https://www.mymanatee.org/departments/public_safety/emergency_management/hazard_mitigation

  • Mandarano L (2009) Social network analysis of social capital in collaborative planning. Soc Nat Resour 22(3):245–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marrero-Lopez T, Tschakert P (2011) From theory to practice: building more resilient communities in flood prone areas. Environ Urban 23(1):229–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menzel B, Schulz. (2013) Forming social capital—Does participatory planning foster trust in institutions? J Environ Manage 131:351–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mileti DS (1999) Disasaters by design: a reassesment of natural hazards in the Univetd States. Joseph Henry Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Mileti DS, Gailus JL (2005) Sustainable development and hazards mitigation in the United States : disasters by design revisited. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 10:491–504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohan G, Mohan J (2002) Placing social capital. Prog Hum Geogr 26(2):191–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monteil H, Simmons P, Hicks A (2020) Post-disaster recovery and sociocultural change: rethinking social capital development for the new social fabric. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 42:2212–4209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrow BH (1999) Identifying and mapping community vulnerability. Disasters 23(1):1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morrow BH (2008) Community resilience: a social justice perspective. Report Number 4. Affiliation: Community and Regional Resilience Initiative. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1278.9604

  • Munasinghe M (2007) The importance of social capital: Comparing the impacts of the 2004 Asian Tsunami on Sri Lanka, and Hurricane Katrina 2005 on New Orleans. Ecol Econ 64(1):9–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy BL (2007) Locating social capital in resilient community-level emergency management. Nat Hazards 41(2):297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nahapiet J, Ghoshal S (1998) Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Acad Manag Rev 23(2):242–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa Y, Shaw R (2004) Social capital: a missing link to disaster recovery. J Mass Emerg Disasters 22(1):1990–1999

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council (NRC) (2006) Facing hazards and disasters: understanding human dimensions. National Academies Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Olshansky RB, Johnson LA (2010) Clear as mud: planning for the rebulding of new orleans. Taylor & Francis, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelling M (1998) Participation, social capital and vulnerability to urban flooding in Guyana. J Int Dev 10(4):469–486. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pelling M, High C (2005) Understanding adaptation: what can social capital offer assessments of adaptive capacity? Glob Environ Chang 15(4):308–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quarantelli EL, Dynes RR (1976) Community Conflict: its absence and its presence in natural disasters. Mass Emerg 1(2):139–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddy SD (2000) Factors influencing the incorporation of hazard mitigation during recovery from disaster. Nat Hazards 22(2):185–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadri A, Ukkusuri M, Lee S, Clawson V, Aldrich S, Nelson R, Kelly M (2018) The role of social capital, personal networks, and emergency responders in post-disaster recovery and resilience: a study of rural communities in Indiana. Nat Hazards 90(3):1377–1406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith H, Boruff B (2011) Recovery from the storm: resilience and the role of community capital in long-term disaster recovery in regional Western Australia. In Proceedings of the State of Australian Cities National Conference 2011, Vol 1. State of Australian Cities National Conference

  • Smith JW, Anderson DH, Moore RL (2012) Social capital, place meanings, and perceived resilience to climate change. Rural Sociol 77(3):380–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens M (2010) Implementing natural hazard mitigation provisions: exploring the role that individual land use planners can play. CPL Bibliogr 24(4):362–371

    Google Scholar 

  • Storr V, Haeffele-Balch H, Grube S (2017) Social capital and social learning after Hurricane Sandy. Rev Austrian Econ 30(4):447–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stults M, Woodruff SC (2017) Looking under the hood of local adaptation plans: shedding light on the actions prioritized to build local resilience to climate change. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 22(8):1249–1279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tobin GA (1999) ‘Sustainability and community resilience: the holy grail of hazards planning?’ Glob Environ Change Part b: Environ Hazards 1(1):13–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tobin GA, McCarty C, Murphy AD, Faas AJ, Whiteford LM, Jones EC (2016) Personal networks and long-term gendered post-disaster wellbeing in mexico and ecuador. In: Faas AJ, Jones EC (eds) Social network analysis of disaster response, recovery, and adaptation. Elsevier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner BL, Kasperson RE, Matson PA, McCarthy JJ, Corell RW, Christensen L, Eckley N, Kasperson JX, Luers A, Martello ML, Polsky C, Pulsipher A, Schiller A (2003) A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100(14):8074–8079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tutu R (2010) Self-rated resilience among young migrants in old Fadama, Accra, Ghana. GeoJournal 78:709–725

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uphoff N (2000) Understanding social capital: learning from the analysis and experience of participation. In: Dasgupta P, Serageldin I (eds) Social capital: a multifaceted perspective, Washington. DC, World Bank

    Google Scholar 

  • Wisner B, Blaikie P, Cannon T, Davis I (2004) At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability, and disasters. Routledge, London; New York

  • Wood L, Boruff B, Smith H (2013) When disaster strikes how communities cope and adapt: A social capital perspective. In: Johnson CD (ed) Social Capital: Theory, Measurement and Outcomes. Nova Science Publishers, United States, p 141

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodruff SC, Meerow S, Stults M, Wilkins C (2018) Adaptation to resilience planning: alternative pathways to prepare for climate change. J Plan Edu Res. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X18801057

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodruff SC, Regan P (2019) Quality of national adaptation plans and opportunities for improvement. Mitig Adapt Strat Glob Change 24(1):53–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woolcock M, Deepa N (2000) Social capital: implications for development theory, research, and policy. World Bank Res Obs 15(2):225

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to declare that this manuscript is a part of the PhD research from Department of Geography at the University of Idaho. All findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this research are those of authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, The University of Idaho, PO Box 443021, Moscow, ID, 83843-3021, USA

    Aparna Kumari

  2. School of Continuing Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20001, USA

    Tim G. Frazier

Authors
  1. Aparna Kumari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tim G. Frazier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aparna Kumari.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix 1: Interview Questionnaire

Appendix 1: Interview Questionnaire

  1. 1.

    What is the biggest resource constraint you face when a disaster event occurs?

  2. 2.

    What is the existing role/reliance on social capital for non-structural mitigation strategies in Hazard Mitigation Plans?

  3. 3.

    Do you think the existing reliance on social capital is sufficient to help respond and recover to major disaster events?

  4. 4.

    What are the constraints to incorporate social capital into non-structural mitigation strategies and how can these constraints be changed?

  5. 5.

    What is the existing role of social services such as Non-Governmental Organizations, religious organizations, and other community-based organizations in planning process?

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kumari, A., Frazier, T.G. Evaluating social capital in emergency and disaster management and hazards plans. Nat Hazards 109, 949–973 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04863-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04863-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation