ABSTRACT
Identify reasons why the community can be a valuable resource dur-• ing disaster recovery Situate the notion of community involvement in the democratic • tradition Understand participation as a reflection of civic culture and • responsibility Define various kinds of social capital that can be accumulated and • applied during the disaster recovery process Explain strategies that can engage the community • Address barriers that may prevent participation of community • members Describe various means to facilitate participation of community • members Understand participatory action strategies designed to enhance • community involvement
Introduction Disasters cannot be defined as disasters unless they cause a human impact . As defined in Chapter 1, a disaster disrupts functioning across the community (Quarantelli 1998) . Schools and businesses close, people stop their daily routines, residents lose their housing, and a wide variety of organizations move forward to help . Efforts will be launched to regroup and function again as a community . Children will need to return to school . Household routines must be reestablished, in temporary sites or in new, permanent locations . Businesses, public facilities, and hospitals will need the power back on and employees to go back to work . People living in the affected areas will be motivated to restore their daily lives to normal . The purpose of this chapter is to show how this motivation can be turned into an asset for recovery . Such an effort is currently underway in the nation of New Zealand .
