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

Eric C.博士琼斯和亚瑟D.墨菲（北卡罗来纳州格林斯伯勒大学）将与琳达博士合作。怀特福德和格雷厄姆A.托宾（南佛罗里达大学）将研究社交网络在帮助个人和社区从自然灾害中恢复方面的作用。以前的研究发现，使用个人和社区社交网络可以是对机构提供的帮助的至关重要的补充。社交网络似乎可以加强个人和群体从灾害暴露、疏散和社区重新安置中的恢复。然而，很少有正式的社交网络分析调查这些关键关系如何发展和运作，以减轻灾害的影响。这个研究团队将解决这个问题。社会网络分析可以区分紧密联系的群体，适度联系的群体和松散的社会联系。在墨西哥，该研究小组发现，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内不同类型的网络亚组所发挥的作用，这些社区以不同的方式受到厄瓜多尔通古拉瓦山持续爆发的影响。一个社区暂时撤离;另一个社区由来自最近大规模火山爆发摧毁的村庄的永久重新安置的居民组成。而第三个社区经历了火山灰福尔斯的坠落却没有动。研究人员将对150个家庭进行有关网络、福祉、灾害影响和家庭特征的调查。这些定量数据将得到深入访谈的补充，以确切了解人们如何从其网络中寻求帮助。这项研究很重要，因为它将进一步了解为什么有些人和社区成功地从灾害中恢复，而其他人却没有。特别是，它将回答从社会关系中获得不同种类的资源如何帮助或不帮助受害者适应灾害事件发生后产生的一连串影响的问题。为这项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，以支持已经存在的网络。研究人员还将为陪同他们到现场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.