KEXP Presents Mind Over Matters; Sustainability Segment: Daniel Aldrich

this is diane warren your host on the sustainability segment of mind over matter is uncanny x t seattle ninety point three fm an online k x p dad orgy i guess this morning as daniel aldrich associate professor of political science at purdue university currently on leave as a fulbright fellow at the university of tokyo he is author of the book site fights divisive facilities and civil society in japan and the west and it's a look at how to whether hurricane was published in the new york times last summer daniel aldrich is here today to tell us about his most recent book building resilience social capital in post disaster recovery published in two thousand and twelve welcome what prompted you to do the research that led to your book building resilience for me this is really a personal project in many ways my family and i had moved down to new and vienna in the summer of two thousand and five in july and had fixed very good weeks there before our home on our car everything we owned a record your computer or destroyed by

the flooding after hurricane katrina and interest to get employed me to the university would shut down that's a master fat about four months of time afterward to implement when i began thinking about recovery not just the usual but also at the community and the city and from two thousand and five began traveling india japan and parts of the gulf coast to understand around the world what factors may be faster resilience more likely and what factors sped up the process of recovery what is the goal of the workers headed in the book what question did you try to answer i want to understand what role social network our friend our family our colleague played any particular building one understand what living in a small village in india what mcallen tokyo what would make it different for you if for example your house are flooded with an earthquake that destroyed her home where she got her down we went to the underground what aspect of the connections to other people

in a different policing doesn't isn't a disaster so in the book of the coast we had an event that killed more than a thousand people and caused more than half a million dollars in damage to set the bar very high more than just a small ford for example or tomato or a cockpit yet or defeat in the most severe catastrophes that we've seen across the world either nineteen twenty three until till roughly half the city was destroyed by an earthquake or in two thousand and four india and it cannot be killed or roughly half a million people across india owen understand and those large scale disasters what made it different path of recovery one that you've begun alluding to this but would you describe the specific disasters east coast is studying explain why these particular disasters were chosen sir i want to make sure that any finding that i discovered were roadblocks across time and space that you couldn't just argue well perhaps not only caved in america only case japan going back in time to nineteen twenty three here in tokyo japan ashley found had

written police records for about fifteen years kept by individual police stations across to kill coca cola bought japanese and the va record keepers i worked before the nineteen twenty three disaster and then afterwards reading everything about the information about how people lived there how many cars were owned levels of crime who is marching at rallies with voting very detailed information about nineteen twenty three total ballots at the nineteen ninety five kobe earthquake which killed roughly eight thousand people and of course with a very heavy dense area and if you type out of kobe japan at the two thousand and four indian ocean tsunami primarily in the area of the outcome or mud in india and the small coastal villages they're very impoverished fishing villages and then most recently was the hurricane katrina i myself went through two thousand and five of course in new orleans louisiana and that mission thereby getting there again how survivors people who came from the women's vote a disaster what level of social

organization did you focus on in evaluating these aliens lawyer at the community level or neighborhood but at political bloc level of possible because all the injuries that we get across new orleans a colleague and i did several hundred of them across the city we found was that block by block neighborhood by neighborhood levels of recovery how people go just to a quite different you could have even people within half a mile away from kennedy had come back in their integrity of a large domestic up well in the most vivid and even if americans immunity for the city in an amazing job of recovery when several miles away and what were conditions part of the lower ninth ward into doing it well so i look really as closely as possible and individuals and community and neighborhood but all the attackers were there and it quickly in tokyo in two thousand and five in new orleans i want to kind of micro level possible which elaborate on what you mean by social capital i think for most of us it's an understanding that our daily lives are driven

primarily by the networks of people who interact with could be colleagues at work should be neighbors who live nearby it might be your parents or children if we live in a city with them they could be virtual network we have friends through facebook or linkedin for fourth little capital really they find the kind that bind us to other people nearby in the book a couple of different types of social capital one is bundling social capital which connect people work with with us that republicans were highly educated middle class african american family of friends are quite similar in all three of bridging social capital and other and connect us with people who are different than for example if it might be groups in india that connect indian muslim community back to america that can connect to the catholic community could be groups will connect is really tightening its averaging groups that often formed a club the school about you know opera any kind of event that we put together it would get rid of the third and pollack of capital rico thinking social capital linking the capital mean i know princeton and become an

authority and power the capital amman and fuel or feminine and yell i'm about feminine world vision of india on the piano for money in a marriage i live here in tokyo says your social capital vote in different times and locations pose a quite different way of capturing the time of the nineteen twenties i mentioned we have a fantastic police records and they kept track overtime a weekly basis the number of marches rallies and demonstrations we know social capital to decreased the barriers to collective action link having a private seminal more likely to work together with them to leave your home go out and make up or demonstration or rally to go and vote for them when voting day became involved in pursuing aspect who rallies and demonstrations that were there in the theater and i nudged ninety five kobe on the other hand look closely or called much of the pretty clearly building ngos non

governmental organizations and there we found i went to that with are capturing people's involvement in a community with the amount of time he invested the number will be efficient they joined to volunteer were in india in the two thousands the founders of capture very well aspects of the informal networks have formed there are a couple different things are looking at closely at the number of social events especially weddings and funerals for people living in these rural villages attended more than a building like they were getting involved in a formal group we find in india and informal associations really captured the depth of connection and in katrina in two thousand and five the capital to capital they're using voting turnout along with a volunteer forget different times and locations believe that we can be quite different at the end of the day i think he worked quote for the way those connections give up the critical time information and resources i'm diane warren and my guest is daniel aldrich associate professor of political

science at purdue university and author of the book building resilience social capital in post disaster recovery and you're tuned to the sustainability segment of mind over matters and katie eckstein it point three of them and on the web and katie xt done or g what are the key findings of your studies and most exciting to meet with that more than other factors that you think about it most of its vision recovery at the process of economic or a critical stretch between individuals or to mitigate have more money because they're wealthier of that that they got more aid from and your red cross or a russian invasion that that aspect of covering economics of the important or governance imaginary community that it's from a mayor or well organized governor promises thing attention invasion government and actually with more than those aspects of life the number of typhus the depth of those thais the economic recovery but we thought of time and space was that individuals living in nineteen twenties tokyo two thousand or two

thousand and five and hurricane katrina areas we kind of those individuals were better times we built the committees were quickly told us that they thought were recovered and also showed evidence of building that business is republican damaged areas so very exciting finding because i think many of us your vision recovery both in terms of the amount of damage that was done in the storm damage we think that covered passages will before we found was actually damage was not a good predictor of the novel's recovery rather again it was that the deputize privatize people had in their communities this elaborate and how are the way social capital work state recovery great yet we think there are three different mechanisms that a couple of you that are in what we call the creaking and increasingly economists have long argued that when a creditor a problem and it will have a choice they can exit they can leave the area and go someplace else where they can use their voices were critical will predicate change in the system we try to interview survivors was that many

people who have left the whole community has left because they felt they could do a better life elsewhere they put this kid's school that particular continue house divided government but individual who didn't you get into who stayed behind the kid behind the community because they felt from the tide there he had tied the neighbors have family who live nearby have to go to their school have to have the place for parents owned or how good looking for many years individually deeper ties to the communities they used voice and whatever we are those the first choice for survivors guide to uproot themselves from the damaged home or damaged comedian and they cut off where were the theater area whatever the cost to rebuild the first voice perfect mechanism that we thought was that social capital overcame the barriers to collective action strongly about issues to be gun control and women's rights could be a difficulty what are the issues that matter to us most of their time going up placards if

i'm one of the congressmen we rely on other people did that portugal this free writing i read a chapter about organization they'll go and live with her vote after disaster many of the challenges are faced by survivors a collective action problem is that for example if you want to deter them but the collective of community it can because one person on patrol unit of many families as possible to contribute time and effort to approving patrolled an area community watch so the more individual that contribute to that effort the more secure the neighborhood and we thought actually very amazing examples of the failure of collective action object that's one example of success comes to that area nor to mention before they launched the left there are less than two months after the disaster many families when a combat area northern this and they didn't and five hundred families but the power and gas were still turned off most of that you know it was not really a broader scale the families

called local power utility called duty and after the powder turned back on they were told they'd have to care about me and a petition to entity to prove they had a threshold people there that have power back within a week every single family five hundred of them had their names on a petition with that day amazing ability to work together to find the people to use email texting phone and so forth to get their sales organized and kobe and a decade before that in that ninety five after the earthquake there the figure school they offered an amazing deal every condominium owner they called them if they was all fine off every member of the condominium associations and this plan to move all of the garbage all the debris all the glass from their areas for the private property fewer than half of the condominiums in kobe and that they could deal with and didn't have a last name given her phone numbers email addresses they didn't know where they could find the neighbors to get their permission before their one successful outcome a collector that's when i think the mechanism

in which a couple worked if we call informal insurance or mutual aid after a disaster the noble providers of services for example healthcare services a little daycare or schools medical services to hospitals doctors gasoline from gas station to local stores almost all of the shutdown could be free they use it could be two weeks or four months ago the parts of northern did not get a patient almost two months afterwards though in those moments of crisis we found was that individuals with deeper connections were able to get those resources they needed a provable if your house was writing for the flight and you had no power to remove the drywall and your neighbors have to be barred from the new wal mart would open the local schools are open if you had to be a child with someone for the day and looking for new jobs oftentimes you couldn't find a professional day care provider but maybe a grandparent or friends nearby like the whole thing could help you

any information on how to for them to reconnect electricity grid again when frederick county with a magic phone that you had friends who had the knowledge that though we find a brief moment of crisis it informal insurance that is you can't pay for with money that money for wealthier report ready have to address they should shift and communities to be able to get those resources at a critical moment for all these mechanisms are complex but they've been the voice of the common core production problems an informal insurance the biggest problems in the first few weeks or months after that after working together as a community getting information and ensuring you have people coming back to the area you'll have a ghost town which you say more about post katrina neighborhoods that did the best or worst in new orleans from the point of view a social capital yetta gets very interesting study i have my old neighborhood called review of the lower ninth ward and of the last the last community we found was that the lakewood

the lakewood theater that you can be actually had very low level of bonding social capital is the connection between the couple neighbors and friends are quite similar and we think that many individuals there were quite wealthy make them work long hours at their jobs and didn't spend much time for example a local event barbecues and so forth but what they have in lake view was very troubled thinking social capital many individuals in the community remember the bailout in the lower ninth ward we have a very very high level of abundance social capital the number of church organizations for shalit and barbecues cruz jr either ptsd for the social club that involved in mardi gras you could have a very high level and social capital but very few bridging making connections so for example in interviews accusing named organizations outside the area the good work that could mean there's often you personally feel that without protection they were lacking a family in the area of a lot of that he found they had both very top level of

bonding so he organized around there very clear vietnam church and yam one by propaganda they had very strong of trust and they had connections both in the mayor and governor officers do think it's a capital the week on both have the connection that you weren't a big big difference for being on the map but with the love not only getting at the direction we need to go and figure the government may have a plan in my view community which the natural vision and really went hard collective action working together to really to get a better coffee plan in place if the committee on who organized don't have connections to not make the difference giving pointed out there is what were difficult for them to have their plans to completely by party planners of those communities unfortunately even today it would still have a more population of it before hand to left and make you think you've recovered pretty well pretty pretty tough to recover you are listening to the sustainability segment of mind over matters on k e x the seattle night twenty three of them and on the way and empty

xv died orgy i'm diane horn and my guest is daniel aldrich associate professor of political science at purdue university and author of the book building resilience social capital in post disaster recovery you report some negative effects of social capital in your book would you like to talk about those negative effects that really gets interesting and social capital and worked at the double edge sword in the hallways of the maturity by having strong bonding or regional baking pies you can make a militia you work together but by having that strong connections to people like you for example that can often means shout out individuals who are different than you and from all of the studies that in the book we found was that very heavy debris groups groups that worked well together often out individuals different than that that could be a minor level set out that if they might not the monolith of survivors to get aid or could be a violent reaction with author temple in nineteen twenty three in tokyo after the earthquake a number of korean swiftly more than three thousand five hundred koreans are

actually killed in riots that broke out across the city there'd been false rumors that koreans living in tokyo have been pushing wells and causing fires that they were somehow undermining the social fabric of a community many of them immediately then there were killed without only recently been open discussions of the massacre that took place after the disasters of course has the far worse than they were stealing direct violent and out of those different than the mainstream japanese people living i'm not graded on before we do that though we knew that wouldn't that organized the best integrated what he would to identify individuals living there were different than the mainstream japanese writes know in two thousand and four in india said many of the untouchables called elite there were left off you deliberately or unconsciously but the organizers of many many communities they're asking for aid that really did have names of everyone repetitive are getting cast but they wouldn't have the names of individuals with early

and we found very strong evidence that at fifty eight words predicated on being in there and being a part of the forecasters for group in that way as a couple can cut both ways you can organize your community ensure you're coming back and the group of you worked together to bring in aid but it can also mean he really inflated isolated you deliberately set out or unconsciously so the groups are different than you and i think this is a struggle what's the communities themselves but also writers after disaster whitaker and yours or government how do we balance the fact that well organized communities whether in japan for example or in india might not necessarily see everyone as part of the same community and typically people out of the process who wants a less government aid in the disaster as you examined we didn't find a lot of evidence that either by self what a great predictor of long term recovery or even medium term population recovered what we found actually in one of my colleagues diego county here it took years of the great recession this was that the interaction between government aid and social

capital with the most critical that it's not just giving money to go back with the bridges or schools or roads but having the interaction of the community they had a strong bottom up push are well integrated the things that are going on that direct the money toward products that are necessary to define indian government aid and aid from ngos often damaged social capital structures many infusion came into india after the money wanted to have their brand on the products they get threatened branding with the homeless or reading the individual money to give that rebranded though they get a lot of boats out to the point where what had previously been a five person fishing operation each member of the crew now have their own boat which may have been it at first but of course that break apart the social hierarchy of the boat and also make it harder to differentiate who does what path of your own book you to go from being a pilot having a fisher fisher to being fully carry on to the beach and killed them at the market for that

primitive for medicaid was actually called affective lobby and gospel compare india go over all i would say really need it help out to some degree but little couple converted to replicate it for the money is used well and go to put it in that it's very helpful that wasn't going to wait to know for example here in japan after that just took a disaster roughly one fifth of the money was supposed to have gone to local communities in fact not one of the projects in okinawa away from the various if gun to bridge is being built off of japan there really haven't been strong aspect of local involvement in the direction of the fun of i think fun by themselves committee by itself is necessarily a pedicure post disaster based on your studies what are your policy recommendations for disaster planning how can your ideas be applied to future disasters recoveries i think the good news is that if these social networks are critical part of recovery that our goal really should be to work with local communities especially vulnerable communities like a gulf coast communities in america where cars india

to build up the social ties for the next disaster in a book a discussion of the mechanisms are being tested around the world common areas like nicaragua africa that have been proven actually to build up trust and resilience and one of them involves a very simple process simply encouraging local people to get to know their neighbors it's like mr rogers had long ago knowing a neighbor can really help in many cases the people who survived disasters like earthquakes in japan received not by first responders beef officers firefighters national guardsmen guided by their neighbors who knew where they had fled to the building that collapsed they could be pretty in india and so many times the tsunami warning before him but you had to have one else got a pedicure bandit in what you're elderly or those kind of digital connections are really critical at a larger level level we know that block grant japan support to get to the court much of your festival here and those can really bring people together to build that bridge and social capital

across ethnicities across regions a lot of the focus groups that his regular meetings of individual for any purpose could be about climate or questions could be about eighty eight to women's rights and the goal is we know that we get in reading build up little couple of trump's moved in and finally we know that with thurmond both in japan america and canada actually that committee currency but it's rewarding individuals who voluntarily communities with money that can only be that a little bit if i volunteer here elderly home nearby or the school and hospital and paid back not in dollars but in money they could only be fed at mom and pop stores at a local food bank accounts a farmers market or barbershop and mcdonald's or walmart that keeps the money and the country in the community and i volunteer earn points of money and then the locally to connect local businesses who now hopefully themselves differently ugly secret of virtual cycle of volunteering and involvement so we think before plan individuals could keep their neighbors more involvement at the

block level review the focus groups and the current fee all of these are ways to build up a couple of communities around the world overall to extend social capital being taken into account for a disaster planning and i'm really optimistic right now i've been consulting with a number of different cities and national level planning organizations and critical for example of the full time individual whose only job right now help build resilient connection not at the city level but block by block right now actually the red cross or the building and feared that new documents released their across australia they're focusing on social capital japan as well and she met other parts of the nation are using social capital part of their rebuilding process then to rebuild damaged social networks sure that mothers and children for example have a broader network of support i think i'm very optimistic right now we see a lot of the movie and from policymakers and recognition that the old way of dealing with this natural to simply defend him from right and then engineers to build new bridges and roads that old withdrew faster than the fish of the future as we have global warming

writing the war footing that actors more extreme weather we know that we would've asked this film and the infrastructure by phil for being off with a social infrastructure everything about one fifth of that which you go into some more detail about the efforts in the united states to incorporate social capital into disaster planning search efforts go have an office officially and now run by dan humphrey and what he's doing actually is working literally block by block to organize individuals and they each appoint a bloc leader whose garage or home the comfort of a local feeding area but they've agreed effect that actor as we know that will be like twenty thirty years in the bay area individual garages and holmes becomes a staging area for food for water for medical care and for information should have been relying on fuel with a red cross the commitment to go and provide a thick felt each individual block has its own store resources information again week information on which opened with closed at their data from the global nearby and medical supplies from the bandages quickly tourniquet new antibiotic would be

provided on a block by block level and also more broadly speaking information for the bloc leaders of each block interpreters go know locally who needs a wheelchair and you've got the vatican who officially we don't have time to get it no one government agency had a list of individuals who need help of new voters and therefore here in japan for example after woods after many of the people who perished in the tsunami were individuals who bed ridden or elderly you simply did not have time to get out by themselves and no one knew they needed help in her caretaker in your bio printer from the tip about the fact that it's not being proactive know try to get lifted individuals what medications and indeed with special help to be made with the idea that when elected after i've been waiting for that individual even tell a big event of them get help from people who live nearby know the american nation well what's the message you'd like to leave our listeners sweat not think of of what can build up with chilean individually in a community even people who are reluctant to get involved and then a little bit about their neighbors getting involved in activities got a

church's religious activities fourth quarter by volunteering on the victories that was greeted her neighbors awakened with individual economically viable for future will thanks so much for being here daniel you have just been listening to daniel aldrich associate professor of political science at purdue university and author of the book building resilience social capital in post disaster recovery published in two thousand and twelve by the university of chicago press i'm dianne harman thanks for listening and be sure to tune in to the sustainability segment again next week on any point three of them and k x p dowd orgy