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

北卡罗来纳大学格林斯博罗分校的Eric C.Jones博士和Arthur D.Murphy博士将与Linda M.Whiteford博士和Graham A.Tobin博士(南佛罗里达大学)合作，研究社交网络在帮助个人和社区从自然灾害中恢复方面的作用。之前的研究发现，使用个人和社区社交网络可以成为机构提供帮助的至关重要的补充。社交网络似乎加强了个人和群体从危险暴露、疏散和社区重新安置中的恢复。然而，很少有正式的社会网络分析调查这些关键关系是如何发展和运作以减轻灾害影响的。这个研究团队将解决这一差距。社交网络分析可以区分紧密联系、适度联系和由社会联系松散连接的群体。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。这项新的研究将以这一发现为基础，更准确地考虑不同类型的网络小组在三个社区中所发挥的作用，这三个社区以不同的方式受到厄瓜多尔通古拉瓦火山喷发的影响。一个社区被临时疏散；另一个社区由被最近的大喷发摧毁的村庄永久重新安置的居民组成。第三个社区经历了火山灰瀑布留在原地。研究人员将对150个家庭进行关于网络、幸福感、灾害影响和家庭特征的调查。这些量化数据将得到深入访谈的补充，以准确地了解人们是如何从他们的网络中招募帮助的。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，而另一些人却没有。特别是，它将回答这样一个问题，即从社会关系获得不同类型的资源如何有助于或不帮助受害者适应灾害事件之后的一连串影响。为这项研究提出的方法创新可以适用于其他社会科学，并适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去实地考察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.