In this PrepTalk, Dr. Daniel Aldrich explains how social ties are the critical aspect of resilience in immediate survival, in mental health, and in community recovery. Despite common assumptions that money, governance, level of damage, and inequality are the most important determinants of recovery, Aldrich demonstrates that “disaster resilience comes from internal factors: How connected are we? How much trust do we have in each other? How often do we work together?” Aldrich has studied disasters around the world and is the author of four published books, including Building Resilience: Social Capital in Post-Disaster Recovery
Related Resources:
- PrepTalks Discussion Guide: Social Capital in Disaster Mitigation and Recovery
- Aldrich New York Times Op-Ed
- Aldrich Research and Publications
- Social Capital and Community Resilience, American Behavioral Scientist
- Fixing Recovery: Social Capital in Post-Crisis Resilience
- Kessler-6 Distress Scale
- Community Preparedness Toolkit
Emergency Management Community Engagement Programs:
- Citizen Corps
- Community Emergency Response Teams
- Medical Reserve Corps
- Neighborhood Watch
- You Are the Help Until Help Arrives
- Tabletop Exercise Materials
- Relationships Matter: The Application of Social Capital to Disaster Resilience. National Disaster Resilience Roundtable report, 2012, Melbourne Australia
- A Whole Community Approach to Emergency Management: Principles, Themes, and Pathways for Action
Q & A Session
PrepTalks are given by subject-matter experts and thoughts leaders to spread new ideas, spark conversation, and promote innovative leadership for the issues confronting emergency managers now and over the next 20 years. For more information and more talks, see https://www.fema.gov/preptalks
