The effect of social capital on disaster conflicts in local communities: Focusing on disaster victims

Lee, Dae Woong Kim Hwa Yeon

People constantly experience large and small disasters in their lives. These disasters often destroy the community spirit and identity and cause “disaster conflict.” This study attempts to derive policy and practical implications for ways to minimize disaster conflict by analyzing the impact of social capital on conflicts experienced by residents after disasters. As a result of the analysis, a significant influence of social capital on minimizing disaster conflict experience could be identified. In particular, the types of social capital at play were different. In the case of a large-scale disaster, the “network” had a significant impact on reducing the experience of disaster conflict, whereas, in the case of a small-scale disaster, “trust” in neighbors and communities had a significant impact on reducing the experience of disaster conflict. Based on these results, it was confirmed once again that it is very important not only to establish physical and human infrastructure and systems, but also to establish social capital within the community for disaster management.