Collaborative Research: Social Networks in Chronic Disasters - Exposure, Evacuation, and Resettlement

Eric C. Jones博士和Arthur D. Murphy博士（北卡罗来纳大学格林斯博罗分校）将与Linda M. Whiteford博士和Graham A. Tobin博士（南佛罗里达大学）合作，研究社会网络在帮助个人和社区从自然灾害中恢复中的作用。先前的研究发现，利用个人和社区社交网络可以成为机构提供帮助的一个至关重要的补充。社会网络似乎可以促进个人和群体从危险暴露、疏散和社区重新安置中恢复过来。然而，很少有正式的社会网络分析调查这些关键关系如何发展和运作，以减轻灾害影响。这个研究小组将解决这一差距。社会网络分析可以区分紧密连接、适度连接和松散连接的群体。在墨西哥，这个研究小组发现，产生适度联系的社交网络特别有效。这项新的研究将建立在这一发现的基础上，并更精确地考虑三个社区中不同类型的网络子群体所扮演的角色，这些社区以不同的方式受到厄瓜多尔通古拉瓦火山爆发的影响。一个社区被暂时疏散；另一个社区是由被最近的大火山爆发摧毁的村庄的居民永久安置的社区。第三个社区经历了火山灰的降落，但却原地不动。研究人员将对150个家庭进行调查，内容涉及网络、幸福感、灾害影响和家庭特征。这些定量数据将辅以深度访谈，以准确了解人们如何从他们的网络中获得帮助。这项研究很重要，因为它将进一步加深我们对为什么一些人和社区成功地从灾难中恢复过来，而另一些则没有的理解。特别是，它将回答这样一个问题，即从社会关系中获得不同种类的资源如何帮助受害者适应灾难事件后随之而来的一连串影响。本研究提出的方法创新可以适用于其他社会科学，并应用于减灾和重新安置工作、经济发展项目和政治暴力，以支持现有的各种网络。研究人员还将为陪同他们前往实地的学生提供教育福利。

Dr. Eric C. Jones and Dr. Arthur D. Murphy (University of North Carolina at Greensboro) will collaborate with Dr. Linda M. Whiteford and Dr. Graham A. Tobin (University of South Florida) to undertake research on the role of social networks in helping individuals and communities to recover from natural disasters. Previous research has found that using personal and community social networks can be a crucially important complement to help provided by institutions. Social networks appear to enhance individual and group recovery from hazard exposure, evacuations, and community resettlement. However, there are few formal Social Networks Analysis investigations of how these critical relations develop and operate to mitigate disaster effects. This research team will address that gap.Social Network Analysis can distinguish between groups that are densely connected, moderately connected, and loosely bridged by social ties. In Mexico, this research team found that social networks that produced moderate connections were particularly effective. This new study will build on that finding and consider more precisely the roles played by different kinds of network subgroups within three communities that have been affected in different ways by the ongoing eruptions of Mount Tungurahua, Ecuador. One community was temporarily evacuated; another community is made up of residents permanently resettled community from villages destroyed by recent major eruptions. and the third community has experienced ash falls has stayed put. The researchers will conduct surveys with 150 households about networks, well-being, disaster impact, and household characteristics. These quantitative data will be complemented by in-depth interviews to understand exactly how people recruit assistance from their networks. This research is important because it will further our understanding of why some people and communities successfully recover from disasters and other do not. In particular, it will answer the question of how access to different kinds of resources from social relationships does or does not help victims adapt to the cascade of impacts that follow in the wake of disaster events. The methodological innovations proposed for this study can be adapted to other social sciences, plus applied to disaster mitigation and resettlement efforts, economic development projects, and political violence, to support the kinds of networks that already exist. The researchers will also provide educational benefits to students who will accompany them to the field.