Workshop Abstracts
Beverly Adams, ImageCat, Inc.
John Bevington, ImageCat, Inc.
Stephanie Chang, University of British Columbia
Rachel Davidson, University of Delaware
Ronald Eguchi, ImageCat, Inc.
Arleen Hill, University of Memphis
Dana Rathfon, University of Delaware
Marleen de Ruiter, University of British Columbia
New Methods for Measuring, Monitoring, and Evaluating Post-Disaster Recovery
Postdisaster recovery is a complex physical, social, economic, environmental, and political process. An improved understanding of recovery could promote recovery planning before a disaster, as well as management after a disaster. Given the importance of recovery, the limitations of previous recovery research, and new technological opportunities, this National Science Foundation-funded project will develop innovative methods for systematically and quantitatively measuring, monitoring, and evaluating postdisaster recovery through integration of multisource data.
Two study areas support the methodological development, focusing on communities in southwest Florida impacted by 2004 Hurricane Charley, with validation of the method using areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The project is producing unique comprehensive recovery datasets, including new remote sensing data, previously underused statistical data, and interview and expert judgment data.
New methods for acquiring and analyzing recovery data can provide benefits to those who manage, fund, and study disaster recovery. They can empower communities and provide evidence to support their experiences of the recovery process. They can open a new source of dialogue with practical repercussions for the creation of resilient communities and for the distribution of aid and resources.
These methods also facilitate theoretical discussion on the potential identification of different types of recovery, depending upon their initial conditions and key postdisaster decisions. By augmenting existing ways of empirically measuring recovery, the project advances the state-of-the-art in postdisaster recovery studies and supports the continuing development of postdisaster recovery theory.
Evelio E. Astray-Caneda III, Florida International University
Hazard Mitigation in Comprehensive Plans: Factors Affecting Plan Quality at the Local Level
Ten U.S. states require local governments to prepare comprehensive plans incorporating hazard mitigation elements. Considering the potential of hazard mitigation at the local level, where local knowledge, experience, and resiliency can be tapped, it is critical to explore factors contributing to quality hazard mitigation elements in comprehensive plans.
With knowledge of the drivers of local hazard mitigation quality, policymakers and public administrators can go beyond state mandates, working more effectively to create quality hazard mitigation elements.
This research focused on Florida’s 35 coastal counties because Florida has a strong mandate for comprehensive plans to include hazard mitigation elements. An examination of coastal county comprehensive plans in Florida revealed wide variation in the quality of hazard mitigation elements.
The dependent variable for this study is quality of hazard mitigation elements in county comprehensive plans. Dependent variable data collection has been completed. There was wide variation in the quality of hazard mitigation elements.
The next phase of this research, which will begin shortly, will explore drivers of hazard mitigation element quality. Interviews will be conducted with the heads of planning departments in several study counties. A survey will then be sent to land use planners to gather information about their perceptions and practices. We will compare findings from the interviews with the plan ratings and survey data.
On a qualitative level, we will compare findings from the interviews with the plan ratings and survey data. On a quantitative level, we will conduct tests of association and independence to ascertain the effects of planning department and planner factors, using methodologies including chi-square tests for independence, and analysis of variance. Multiple linear regression modeling will also be utilized to create models controlling for various factors related to social and geographic vulnerability.
Stephanie E. Chang, University of British Columbia
Timothy McDaniels, University of British Columbia
Analyzing Infrastructures for Disaster Resilient Communities
This project develops and disseminates knowledge to prioritize investments for disaster resilient infrastructures. Critical infrastructure systems such as electric power, water, and transportation are not only vulnerable in disasters but also highly interdependent. Failures in one system can trigger disruptions in other critical infrastructures, thereby greatly escalating a disaster’s impacts. This study focuses on such infrastructure failure interdependencies (IFIs).
The study first develops an empirical database of IFIs and their social, economic, health, safety, and environmental consequences. The database includes several electric power blackouts, ice storms, hurricanes, and floods. Data are drawn primarily from print or text media reports. Verification exercises are conducted against various other primary and secondary information sources. The database is used to comparatively assess patterns in the severity of societal consequences from IFIs.
The study then develops a practical approach for communities to characterize their vulnerability to infrastructure failure and interdependency in disasters. The approach is demonstrated for earthquakes and floods in Greater Vancouver, Canada. It involves a linked sequence of tasks, beginning with identifying a specific hazard scenario, then interviewing infrastructure representatives, synthesizing information into graphical tools, and using these tools to facilitate cross-infrastructure discussions in a workshop setting. The work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and by Infrastructure Canada.
For more information, including a searchable IFI database and a series of practitioner-oriented reports, please see the project Web site.
Louise Comfort, University of Pittsburgh
Michael D. Siciliano, University of Pittsburgh
Aya Okada, University of Pittsburgh
Risk, Resilience, and Recovery: The Haiti Earthquake, January 12, 2010
The transition from response operations to the more difficult challenges of recovery following destructive events marks a critical shift that, when supported by sound analysis, planning, and organizational learning, can lead to a more resilient community. The recent January 12, 2010, earthquake in Haiti offers an unusual case in which to examine this transition process in both theory and practice. We investigate whether the large number of disparate organizations and jurisdictions that participated in response operations in Haiti coalesced into a coherent system, bridging international assistance with local capacity to provide an integrated basis for recovery. More critical is whether this nascent international/national system can sustain the complex operations needed for recovery over time.
Haiti represents a larger issue for global risk reduction. The immediate response of the international community to the devastation there illustrates the responsiveness and capacity of donor nations to aid developing nations when disaster strikes. Yet the cost of reactive strategies is high.
Would the same investment from the international community, given before the earthquake, reduce losses after the earthquake? In an interconnected global community, the risk of sudden, disruptive events is shared. Learning to manage that risk means integrating science into disaster policy and including design for disaster risk reduction into urban landscapes and practice. Lessons from the Haiti Earthquake underscore the significance and urgency of taking action.
Leonard David, Secure World Foundation
Planetary Defense: Reducing the Giggle Factor
The prospect of Earth being on the receiving end of a Near Earth Object (NEO)—and how best to thwart such an event—has gained increased attention by the public, politicians, as well as the media.
Secure World Foundation (SWF) has played a key role in helping spotlight the legal and institutional issues regarding the protection of Earth from NEOs. For example, in a recent presentation at the United Nations, SWF released the findings of a group of international experts that outlines needed steps and concerns in establishing a global detection and warning network to deal with possible NEO threats to Earth.
This panel will take a look at how the NEO issue has been portrayed in the past and offer a future look at the potential for using these cosmic wanderers.
Jamison M. Day, Louisiana State University
Disaster Relief Coordination: Achieving Unity of Effort without Unity of Command
This research explores why large-scale disaster relief efforts have remained difficult to coordinate and proposes a novel approach to achieve more adequate collective performance during large-scale disaster relief.
The type of coordination strategy that arises when managing a disaster is determined primarily by two factors: (1) the amount of pre-planning performed and adhered to by the entities; and (2) the configuration of information flows (i.e., degree of centralization). Large-scale disaster response efforts typically integrate many relief providers who perform little or no preplanning and organize themselves into relatively decentralized information networks.
The resulting coordination mechanism is characterized as improvisation. An integrated set of mechanisms is proposed for effectively managing information integration, resource allocation, and performance monitoring within groups of disaster relief organizations while they improvise to cope with changes in the affected populations they serve and in their supply networks.
Michael Dunaway, The George Washington University
Greg Shaw, The George Washington University
The Influence of Collaborative Partnerships on Private Sector Preparedness with Implications for Community Resilience
This work reports the results of a survey of 145 private sector organizations to identify factors that motivate businesses and non-profit organizations to adopt measures for emergency preparedness and continuity of operations planning. Consistent with previous research, it identified the size and capability of the organization as a principal factor in business preparedness.
The study, however, identified that participation in a collaborative partnership correlated with motivation to prepare at least as strongly as the size of the organization or previous experience in a disaster. The data further identified a consistent prevalence or preference among private sector businesses and nonprofits for certain types of preparedness measures over others.
Lastly, the research identified a strong concern among business owners regarding hazards and threats to organization viability that originate from natural disasters or that threaten physical or intellectual property. There was relatively little concern exhibited for the threat posed by terrorism. Based on this research, the study offers a Framework for Private Sector Preparedness that addresses the dual roles of businesses in protecting corporate assets, value, and profitability in an environment of competition, while underpinning the stability of the local economic and social ecosystem through collaboration with other organizations.
These findings point the way for further research into policies that would have a positive influence on preparedness in the private sector with implications for building resilience at the community and regional levels.
Suzanne Frew, Pacific Disaster Center
Building Capacity: Vietnam’s Education And Training Program
The Natural Disaster Risk Management Project (NDRMP) Education and Training Program was implemented in 2009–2010 for the government of Vietnam by Pacific Disaster Center, which is managed by the University of Hawaii. The main objective of the World Bank/International Development Association-funded project and the training program was to develop the capacity of central government and provincial disaster management organizations to: (1) strategically plan investments based on full technical, social, environmental, and economic analyses of subprojects; (2) mainstream integrated disaster risk management into provincial development planning; and (3) implement the National Strategy for Natural Disaster Prevention, Response and Mitigation to 2020.
The education and training program was based on international best practices customized for the disaster management needs of NDRMP and Vietnam. It is anticipated that this program will provide the foundation for Vietnam’s future disaster management education and training program.
Project activities included a training needs assessment, development and implementation of a first year curriculum, monitoring and evaluation of training impacts, and a final report that included recommendations for future capacity building.
Six core courses were developed and delivered to central level and provincial officials during March, April, and May 2010. Courses included: multi-hazard disaster management; natural hazards of Vietnam, decision making and problem solving; disaster communications; mapping for disaster management; and disaster risk and vulnerability. Four two-week sessions trained approximately 100 participants. Course instructions—primarily delivered in English with simultaneous translation—incorporated lecture, discussion, case studies, simulated exercises, and group activities. A team of experienced Pacific Disaster Center and Vietnamese instructors implemented the program.
Gabriela Hoberman, Florida International University
Juan Pablo Sarmiento, Florida International University
Richard S. Olson, Florida International University
The Media, Accountability, and Agenda Impacts of the February 2010 Chile Earthquake and Tsunami
In a major disaster, media are crucial in local and national constructions of the event, its causes, and its implications. This is especially the case in democratic polities where the media generally serve not only in reporting capacities, but also in accountability (watchdog) and agenda-influencing roles.
Our study focuses on how Chilean media framing of the earthquake and ensuing tsunami affected public estimation of the outgoing left-center Michelle Bachelet government and the incoming rightist government of Sebastian Piñera. In addition, we were also interested in how media coverage apparently triggered, or at least influenced, political agendas, especially discussions over the need for policy changes, and even organizational eliminations, revealed by the disaster.
Our research draws on national media coverage over a four-month post-impact period, supplemented by in-depth interviews with government officials, nongovernmental organization representatives, and geotechnical, engineering, and disaster experts.
Preliminary findings show that President Bachelet came out of the disaster relatively well, although some fractures became obvious within her administration and posed blame management problems. As the incoming president, Piñera saw his political agenda quickly turned on its head, from job creation before the disaster to the reorganization of emergency alert and response systems, and budgeting for post-disaster reconstruction. Other critical topics such as zoning and land use management are part of the public agenda but the new government has not yet addressed them. These will be the areas in which Piñera will be held most accountable.
Karl-Michael Höferl, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences
William R. Freudenburg, University of California-Santa Barbara
Vulnerability-Based Policy Learning? On the Interplay of Coping Arrangements, Vulnerabilities and Losses in Community-Based Flood Management
The floods of 2002 in large parts of Europe and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 revealed the vulnerability of developed countries to floods. So far different approaches on vulnerability assessment have been used as a basis to redesign and enforce flood adaptation and mitigation strategies. This conception of vulnerability-based policy learning unfolds itself along an unspoken rationalistic assumption: the higher the existing vulnerabilities and losses due to past floods, the higher the pressure to redesign and enforce flood adaptation and mitigation strategies.
In contrast, statements like “knowing better and losing even more” document clearly that this rationalistic assumption is not indisputable. A group of scholars from a variety of disciplines sees a limited potential for policy learning due to vulnerabilities, past floods, and losses. Despite this critique, little empirical knowledge on the interplay between adaptation and mitigation strategies, vulnerabilities, and losses is available in the field of flood management.
By interpreting flood management as a cyclic socioecological interaction, the main features of a research perspective focusing on the interplay of coping arrangements, vulnerabilities, and losses due to past floods will be discussed. This perspective tries to improve the understanding of local conditions in communities, under which the redesign and enforcement of coping arrangements takes place. Concurrently it is an approach to evaluate the earlier mentioned vulnerability-based policy learning and its rationalistic framing.
Finally the application of this perspective to community-based flood management in the United States will be discussed.
Younhee Kim, National Institute for Disaster Prevention
Developing Disaster Response Exercise and Evaluation Programs in Korea
Exercises are very important for effective response when disaster strikes. Therefore it is important that government assists response entities in designing, developing, conducting, and evaluating disaster response exercise programs.
In Korea, the central government holds the “Safe Korea” emergency exercise and other emergency response agencies such as 119 rescue services, medical, and civil organizations conduct their own exercises.
According to a survey conducted by National Emergency Management Agency in Korea, emergency exercise planners want clear guidelines for planning emergency exercises and for the subsequent evaluation process.
This research, therefore, lays the foundation for creating emergency exercise design and evaluation guidelines. It includes developing guiding principles and literature reviews on existing exercise programs. Several in-depth interviews were conducted with personnel who design and develop the existing response exercises. Implications for the Homeland Security Exercise Program are included in the research assessment.
Phil Line, URS Corporation
The Old Tools Won’t Do
Lessons learned from previous disasters have demonstrated that a one-dimensional approach to avoiding past mistakes is not adequate. Efforts have been made to reduce future damage to the built environment through a multi-dimensional approach. Key factors for successful damage reduction include effective development and the use of model building codes that are based on lessons learned, cost effectiveness, and outreach.
Discussions in this arena might touch on the evolutionary changes to regulatory requirements of model building codes and suggested changes; the need to reach a balance between the need for disaster resistant buildings and cost effectiveness; and issues of educating disparate audiences, such as design professionals, academia, building owners, public officials, and the general public.
Peter J. May, University of Washington
Governance of Risk: Messy Problems and Policy Regimes
We have been examining multiple facets of the governance of risk in the United States in a post 9/11 world. Our original focus was how widespread policy disruptions—epitomized by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001—affect policy making and governance. Generalizing from this, we have been considering messy, risk-related policy problems that do not fit within traditional boundaries for organizing policy responses. Our research has led us to consider the role of policy regimes as a promising direction for future scholarship and research about governing these policy problems.
Our latest work addresses critical infrastructure, as an example. The disorder stems from the vagueness of the critical infrastructure label, the multiplicity of relevant infrastructures considered, a vast array of stakeholders, and the policy-making and coordination challenge all this implies. Our research focuses on documenting these challenges and the prospect of fashioning coherent policy for critical infrastructures.
These collaborative research projects have been undertaken with NSF funding under grant numbers SES-0623900 (P. May and Al Wallace) and CMMI-0925306 (P. May and C. Koski).
Andrew Rumbach, Cornell University
The City Vulnerable: Satellite Townships, Informality, and the Geography of Disaster in Kolkata
Kolkata, India, is one of the world’s largest urban agglomerations. Its population will reach 21 million by 2020, with more than 40 percent of residents living in bustees (slums). Founded on the eastern side of the Hooghly River and near the Bay of Bengal, Kolkata has always been prone to monsoon floods and tropical cyclones. It is also one of the world’s cities most vulnerable to climate change.
One way Kolkata is managing growth is by constructing satellite townships—green-field developments that cater to the city’s middle and upper classes. Many of these satellites are being planned and built along the eastern fringe and into the region’s natural flood basin.
My dissertation explores disaster vulnerability through the lens of formal and informal growth in Kolkata’s satellite townships. These townships are an example of fractured urbanism, where a large number of low-wage workers provide critical services to the economic elite, but live in hazardous slums.
My research draws primarily on four sources of data: short interviews with 600 informal workers in the Bidhan Nagar township, a baseline survey of 420 households in nearby slums, maps and other spatial information, and interviews with local experts.
Risk reduction and poverty alleviation policies often focus on slum conditions in situ rather than targeting planning strategies that lead to vulnerability via informal growth. My findings show the need for more inclusive planning that recognizes the vital role that low-wage workers play in the urban economy, planning that is necessary for sustainable urban development to be realized.
Richard Salkowe, University of South Florida
Stafford Act Disaster Declarations and Denials: Analyzing Community Recovery and Biopsychosocial Well-Being
Federal resources—including temporary housing, transportation, residential repairs, food coupons, relocation assistance, legal, medical, and funeral expense coverage, unemployment assistance, and crisis counseling—are available to assist individuals recovering from disasters by means of the discretionary authority granted to the president by the Stafford Act. Subjective criteria, including the extent of health and safety problems and the extent to which the disaster area is traumatized, are considered when declaring or denying a disaster. Equitable access to these supportive measures is critical to the well-being of affected communities.
This research systematically examines recovery outcomes regarding community psychological and physical well-being in Illinois counties presidentially declared or denied as disaster areas after the 2008 storm and flood events. A comparative examination of the frequency and incidence of pre- and post-event biopsychosocial stress-related conditions in these areas will provide additional input regarding recovery outcomes associated with federal disaster relief.
Archived indicators of well-being, as measured by stress-related physical and psychological disorders, will be used for the Medicare population in the affected counties while controlling for demographic variables. This data includes 114,000 outpatient and hospital visits or admissions. It will also include an analysis of patterns of prescription or over-the-counter drug use, and stress-related social behaviors such as alcohol use, tobacco use, and incidence of violent crime.
Open-ended interviews will be conducted to augment the quantitative findings.
Hazards researchers, public health officials, and emergency management personnel will benefit from a better understanding of recovery outcomes in communities where disaster have been declared or denied.
Ben Smilowitz, Disaster Accountability Project
Peter Hanink, Disaster Accountability Project
Between Snoopy and McGruff: Disaster Watchdogging in Concept and Practice
In the five years since Hurricane Katrina, the Government Accountability Office, policy groups, Congress, the White House, students, researchers, and academics from around the world have published thousands of reports containing tens of thousands of policy recommendations for how to prevent another Katrina. While many of these recommendations have been considered and some have been implemented, scores are just collecting dust.
What does “disaster accountability” mean? This workshop will facilitate a discussion on ways improve oversight and accountability in the disaster management field. How can we convert the "lessons realized" and published in reports after disasters into "lessons learned" and implemented? Other topics include:
• Methodology for disaster accountability and oversight in research and advocacy;
• Ideas for achieving greater impact;
• Better stakeholder engagement in accountability and oversight efforts;
• Existing vs. ideal standards for disaster relief transparency;
• Sustainable disaster accountability and oversight efforts.
Balfour Spence, Brandon University
Community-level Good Practice Initiatives for Mitigating Hydro-Meteorological Hazards in Caribbean Agriculture: Jamaica Case Study
Recurrent impacts of hydro-meteorological hazards have wreaked havoc in the agricultural sector throughout the Caribbean. Although the agricultural contribution to gross domestic product of Caribbean countries has steadily declined over the last two decades, this sector remains a major player in the livelihood of countries in the region.
The sector has been the focus of hazard and disaster management interventions primarily for relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of the sector in the aftermath of hydro-meteorological hazard impacts. International development and donor organizations such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and regional agencies such as the Caribbean Development Bank have regularly responded in this regard.
As Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) becomes more firmly rooted in the developmental dialogue of the Caribbean, there is also increasing recognition of the critical role mitigation must play in the region’s quest for sustainable development. This recognition coincides with a significant paradigm shift towards community-based approaches to the management of hazards and disasters.
This paper highlights community-level initiatives for mitigating a range of hydro-meteorological hazards, utilized by small-scale farmers in Jamaica. The potential for mainstreaming these local-level initiatives into the CDM framework being promoted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency is underscored.
Malaika Ulmi, Geological Survey of Canada
Fernando Muñoz-Carmona, Fernando Muñoz Carmona Consulting
Jorge Muñoz-Bravo, Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería de Chile
Mike Ellerbeck, Le Groupe-conseil baastel ltée
Catherine Hickson, Magma Energy Corporation
Proof of Impact: A Multinational Andean Project Case Study Community Responds to the February 27 Chile MW 8.8 Earthquake
The Multinational Andean Project: Geoscience for Andean Communities was a six-year, $30 million dollar collaborative project among the government geoscience agencies of Argentina, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela funded by the Canadian International Development Agency and all participating agencies. The goal of the project was to reduce risk from geohazards—landslides, earthquakes, and volcanoes—to the people of the Andes by working with decision makers to provide and integrate improved geoscience knowledge for land use planning, emergency management, and education. The project built capacity in the collection, interpretation, communication, and integration of geoscientific studies by the geological surveys.
Each country selected a case study community subject to a geohazard to develop the methodology that was later generalized for application to other areas. In Chile, the community selected was Las Cascadas in the Los Lagos Region, which sits at the foot of the Osorno Volcano and was built on lahar flows from an 1835 eruption. Osorno is a glaciated volcano with historic and prehistoric eruptive activity. The project brought together many players in the area to better understand the risk and develop mitigation strategies to reduce vulnerability.
It was understood that project impact—changes in behaviour and risk reduction—would not be evident until after a natural hazard event. Thus, with the MW 8.8 earthquake of February 27, 2010, in Chile, the positive response of the Las Cascadas case study community to this event demonstrated the efficacy of project methodologies.
David Wald, U. S. Geological Survey
Kishor S. Jaiswal, U. S. Geological Survey
Kristin Marano, U. S. Geological Survey
Doug Bausch, Federal Emergency Management Agency
An Earthquake Impact Scale for the USGS PAGER System (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response)
With the advent of the U.S. Geological Survey Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) system, which rapidly assesses earthquake impacts, U.S. and international earthquake responders are reconsidering automatic alert and activation levels as well as response procedures.
To facilitate rapid and appropriate earthquake response, we propose an Earthquake Impact Scale based on two complementary criteria. One, based on the estimated cost of damage, is suitable for domestic events. The other, based on estimated fatality ranges, is more appropriate for global events, particularly in developing countries.
Simple thresholds derived from the systematic analysis of past earthquake impact and response levels turn out to be quite effective in communicating the predicted impact and the response needed after an event. These can be characterized by alerts of green (little or no impact), yellow (regional impact and response), orange (national-scale impact and response), and red (international response).
Corresponding fatality thresholds for yellow, orange, and red alert levels are 1, 100, and 1000, respectively. For damage impact, yellow, orange, and red thresholds are triggered by estimated losses reaching $1 million, $100 million, and $1 billion, respectively.
In this analysis, we provide simple and intuitive color-coded alerting criteria, yet we preserve the necessary uncertainty measures by which one can gauge the likelihood for the alert to be over or underestimated. Using the scale, PAGER’s rapid loss estimates can adequately recommend alert levels and suggest appropriate response protocols, despite uncertainties. Awaiting observations or loss estimates with a high level of accuracy may increase losses.
Frederick Weil, Louisiana State University
Social Capital and Disaster Recovery
This session examines the role of social capital in disaster recovery in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, particularly the rise of civic engagement, social networks, and community organizations, in nearly all aspects of recovery and rebuilding. The presenter conducted a large general population recovery survey (N=6,000), a survey of neighborhood association leaders (N=80, still in progress), surveys of young newcomers (N=1,500), and surveys of musicians and cultural community members (N=3,000), as well as intensive ethnographic research with over 200 community groups and filmed interviews with community leaders (30 completed of between 80 to 100 projected). He has also been involved with a number of community recovery initiatives. Using quantitative, qualitative, and ethnographic; GIS; and other methods of analysis, he shows the importance of social capital in disaster recovery. More importantly, he learns what recovery strategies have proved most effective and which community resources are most important.
Etsuko Yasui, Brandon University
A Community’s Coping Mechanism to Disaster Recovery: Interactions Between Collective Vulnerability and Community Capacity
This study investigates a community’s complex coping mechanism in large-scale disaster recovery in an urban area. Although disaster experiences differ from community to community, the interactions between collective vulnerability and community capacity have powerful implications for the success or failure of a disaster recovery.
Social vulnerability is commonly characterized by an individual’s age, race or ethnicity, gender, class, income, physical and mental ability, occupation, and level of education. While these characteristics may intensify an individual’s vulnerability under a particular disaster situation, they do not necessarily determine collective vulnerability.
In the case of the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the community of Mano was severely damaged because individual social and physical vulnerability were high. Yet somehow Mano recovered relatively smoothly. Mano at that time had a high concentration of low-income families, aging single household occupancies, inner city economic and population decline, poorly maintained buildings and infrastructure, few open spaces, and on-going racial and ethnic conflicts. But it also had high community capacity in the form of active community participation, successful community-based organizations, and good relationships with the local government.
This case study provides quantitative and qualitative data to achieve a rich understanding of the interaction between vulnerability and capacity. In this paper, we discuss how this group capacity was used effectively as a buffer against collective vulnerability to the Kobe earthquake. Results suggest that a vulnerable community without high group capacity can still establish a coping mechanism to disaster if certain conditions are met.