Individual perceptions of community resilience following the 2011 Joplin tornado

Abstract

Approximately 6–7 months after the deadliest tornado in the United States since 1947, we conducted a RDD telephone survey of Joplin residents (N = 380) to examine perceptions of community resilience (CR). We found that participants had positive perceptions of the resilience of their community after this major disaster. Older participants were more likely to perceive the community to be resilient than younger participants. More tornado experience was related to lower perceptions of CR. More use of traditional media (television and newspapers) for tornado information and more conversation with friends, family and neighbours about the tornado was associated with higher CR perceptions. Overall, mediated and interpersonal communication processes appear important for fostering CR following a major disaster.

Co‐evolving supportive networks and perceived community resilience across disaster‐damaged areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Selection, influence, or both?

“…In the disaster recovery stage, community resilience can be understood as the capacity of a disaster-struck community to recover from catastrophe and adapt in the face of adversity (Aldrich, 2012;Houston, Spialek, First, Stevens, & First, 2017;Lai & Hsu, 2018;Ntontis, Drury, Amlot, Rubin, & Williams, 2018). Therefore, faced with the disaster response stage, a disaster-resilient community will exert its collective adaptive capacity to coordinate multiple stakeholders involved in response, secure the necessary support for vulnerable groups in a community, facilitate the restoration of the predisaster functions of the community, and expedite the overall disaster recovery process (Rivera & Settembrino, 2013;Ross, 2014).…”

Building disaster resilience using social messaging networks: the WeChat community in Houston, Texas, during Hurricane Harvey

“…For instance, Norris et al (2008) highlight four primary sets of networked resources in their community resilience model: community competence; economic development; information and communication; and social capital. Several empirical studies have demonstrated that communication is a core concept that cuts across all of the other dimensions (Houston et al, 2015, 2017; Spialek, Czlapinski, and Houston, 2016). This paper focuses, therefore, on social capital and assesses how one particular type of communication technology contributes to community resilience.…”

“This Is Not the Hill to Die on. Even if We Literally Could Die on This Hill”: Examining Communication Ecologies of Uncertainty and Family Communication About COVID-19

“…Family communication has the potential to play an important role in how individuals move through and recover from a crisis ( Houston et al, 2017 ; Saul & Landau, 2004 ). Importantly, families are embedded in larger societal structures, with family systems interacting with local, regional, and national organizations.…”

“…COVID-19 has heightened the interdependence of families and surrounding ecologies in constructive and constraining ways. When framed positively, family communication plays a role in bolstering community resilience ( Houston et al, 2017 ). Given the incoherent communication efforts of various levels of government regarding COVID-19 ( J. L. Guest et al, 2020 ), family communication is likely of heightened importance during this crisis.…”