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Residential relocation and change in social capital: A natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

ABSTRACT: Social connections in the community ("social capital") represent an important source of resilience in the aftermath of major disasters. However, little is known about how residential relocation due to housing destruction affects survivors' social capital. We examined changes in social capital among survivors of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. People who lost their homes were resettled to new locations by two primary means: (i) group relocation to public temporary trailer housing or (ii) individual relocation, in which victims moved into government-provided housing by lottery or arranged for their own accommodation (market rental housing or private purchase/new construction). The baseline for our natural experiment was established 7 months before the 11 March 2011 disaster, when we conducted a survey of older community-dwelling adults who lived 80-km west of the earthquake epicenter. Approximately 2.5 years after the disaster, the follow-up survey gathered information about personal experiences of disaster as well as health status and social capital. Among 3421 people in our study, 79 people moved via group relocation to public temporary trailer housing, whereas 96 people moved on their own. The individual fixed-effects model showed that group relocation was associated with improved informal socializing and social participation (? coefficient = 0.053, 95% confidence interval: 0.011 to 0.095). In contrast, individual relocation was associated with declining informal socializing and social participation (? coefficient = -0.039, 95% confidence interval: -0.074 to -0.003). Group relocation, as compared to individual relocation, appeared to preserve social participation and informal socializing in the community.

SUBMITTER: Hikichi H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5529061 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Residential relocation and change in social capital: A natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

Hikichi Hiroyuki H Sawada Yasuyuki Y Tsuboya Toru T Aida Jun J Kondo Katsunori K Koyama Shihoko S Kawachi Ichiro I

Science advances 20170726 7

Social connections in the community ("social capital") represent an important source of resilience in the aftermath of major disasters. However, little is known about how residential relocation due to housing destruction affects survivors' social capital. We examined changes in social capital among survivors of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. People who lost their homes were resettled to new locations by two primary means: (i) group relocation to public temporary trailer housin ...[more]

PMID: 28782024

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Project description:ImportanceTrust is a core component of social cohesion, facilitating cooperation and collective action in the face of adversity and enabling survivors to remain resilient. Residential stability is an important prerequisite of developing trusting relations among community members. However, little is known about whether the movement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) after a disaster might change community relations.ObjectiveWe explored perceived changes in trust within 1 community directly impacted by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.Design, setting, and participantsThis prospective cohort study examined survey data from 3594 residents of Iwanuma City, Japan, aged 65 years or older. Data were obtained from the Iwanuma Study-part of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study, a nationwide cohort study established in 2010-approximately 7 months before the disaster. All Iwanuma City residents age 65 years or older (8576 residents) were eligible to participate in 2010. The response rate was 59.0% (5058 residents). A follow-up survey was conducted in 2013, approximately 2.5 years after the disaster. Of the 4380 remaining participants who answered the baseline survey, 3594 were recontacted (follow-up rate, 82.1%). Data analysis was performed from July 1, 2019, to January 9, 2020.ExposuresThe number of temporarily relocated Iwanuma City survivors within 100 m and 250 m of a nonrelocated resident's home address.Main outcomes and measuresPerceived changes in particularized trust (ie, trusting people from the same community) and generalized trust (trusting people from other communities) measured on a 5-point Likert scale.ResultsAmong 3250 nonrelocated residents (1808 [55.6%] women; mean [SD] age, 76.5 [6.2] years) of Iwanuma City included in the analytic sample, multivariable-adjusted multinomial logistic regression analyses found that each standard deviation increase in the influx of internally displaced persons (1 SD = 11 IDPs) within 250 m of a resident's home address was associated with higher odds of a decrease in the resident's particularized and generalized trust (odds ratio, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.04-1.32).Conclusions and relevanceThe influx of IDPs in the host community appeared to be associated with an erosion of trust among locals. To avoid the erosion of social cohesion after a disaster, it may be crucial to provide opportunities for social interaction between old and new residents of communities.

Dataset Information

Residential relocation and change in social capital: A natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

Publications

Residential relocation and change in social capital: A natural experiment from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.

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