Social capital in disaster-affected areas

Abstract

Natural disasters have increased in recent years. Although a physical infrastructure is important to reduce disaster damage, it has its limits. It has been pointed out that attention should be paid to the social infrastructure. In this paper, we focus on social capital, which is attracting attention as a social infrastructure that is one of the social determinants of health, and give an overview of its impact on disaster-affected areas. Various studies have shown that a region with rich social capital recovers its social and physical environment, including local infrastructure, community and individual health, faster. Social support, social participation, and informal social controls provided by social capital also improve disaster preparedness and resilience of individuals and the community before a disaster occurs. However, social capital also has a negative side. While paying attention to the negative aspects, the creation of social capital during normal times will contribute to disaster mitigation.