Community Resilience as a Metaphor, Theory, Set of Capacities, and Strategy for Disaster Readiness

Abstract

Communities have the potential to function effectively and adapt successfully in the aftermath of disasters. Drawing upon literatures in several disciplines, we present a theory of resilience that encompasses contemporary understandings of stress, adaptation, wellness, and resource dynamics. Community resilience is a process linking a network of adaptive capacities (resources with dynamic attributes) to adaptation after a disturbance or adversity. Community adaptation is manifest in population wellness, defined as high and non-disparate levels of mental and behavioral health, functioning, and quality of life. Community resilience emerges from four primary sets of adaptive capacities--Economic Development, Social Capital, Information and Communication, and Community Competence--that together provide a strategy for disaster readiness. To build collective resilience, communities must reduce risk and resource inequities, engage local people in mitigation, create organizational linkages, boost and protect social supports, and plan for not having a plan, which requires flexibility, decision-making skills, and trusted sources of information that function in the face of unknowns.

Resilience and mental health

“…Positive emotions are seen as active ingredients within trait resilience, which reduce the risk of depression and promote thriving (Fredrickson et al, 2003). In other studies, emotional resilience has been used as a concept to imply the flexible use of emotional resources for adapting to adversity (Waugh, Fredrickson, & Taylor, 2008) or as the process linking resources (adaptive capacities) to outcomes (adaptation) (Norris, Stevens, Pfefferbaum, Wyche, & Pfefferbaum, 2008). Researchers using this concept view resilience as a process or force that drives a person to grow through adversity and disruption (Jacelon, 1997;Richardson & Waite, 2002;Richardson, 2002).…”

The neuroscience and context of adolescent depression

“…In a larger contextual framework, it is evident that building collective resilience is a key factor in preventing adolescent depression, which includes addressing social inequality, creating organisational collaboration, protecting social support initiatives and engaging adolescents in mitigation of the effects of climate change (80). It has been suggested that talking about the psychological impact of climate change in general will help to better process and accept potentially overwhelming climate information and thus prevent more longstanding climate-related depression (74).…”

Assessing the effect of the Queensland “Summer of Disasters” on perceptions of collective efficacy

“…Socially, natural disasters can often strengthen social ties in the community by bringing residents together for a common cause, and for recovery and rebuilding (Sattler et al, 1995). However, emerging evidence from the literature on post-disaster consequences shows that existing ties can be disrupted when residents leave communities either temporarily or permanently when their homes are damaged (Norris et al, 2008). The recovery phase is a process of competition and conflict that impacts individuals unequally and may have additional effects for communities.…”

“…However, understanding whether this increase remained 13 six months after the disaster hit will contribute to a better understanding of how perceptions of one's community are affected by sudden physical and social environmental change. Norris et al (2008) argue that collective efficacy and individual perceptions of cohesion and social control are intrinsically related to community and individual resilience. Therefore, understanding how these perceptions change as a result of a disaster is critical for understanding the recovery process and whether these are the same vulnerable groups that will struggle in future disasters.…”

“…Criminological and sociological literature suggests that communities 1 with higher levels of collective efficacy tend to have lower rates of victimization and violent crime (Sampson et al, 1997), lower rates of obesity (Browning & Cagney, 2002), and higher rates of life satisfaction among community residents (Adams & Serpe, 2000). Collective efficacy is also thought to enhance resilience for communities in the face of sudden community change such as natural disasters and terrorist events (Norris, Stevens, Pfefferbaum, Wyche, & Pfefferbaum, 2008). Resilience is a concept employed often by policy-makers denoting the capacity to cope when confronted by hardship -to recover and return to normal after contending with some form of often unexpected adversity (Cutter et al, 2008).…”