[M-IS22] Geopark

[MIS22-05] Disaster risk reduction in Geopark from social geographical approach : focusing on social capital for community resilience

*Akifumi Nakamura¹ (1.Muroto Geopark Promotion Committee)

Keywords:Disaster risk reduction, Resilience, Social capital, Island

In recent years, mesurements of disaster risk reduction is active in various Geoparks. In Muroto Geopark, structural measures such as ocean wave barriers, tsunami evacuation towers, tsunami shelters, and evacuation routes have been constructed for coming Nankai Trough earthquake. On the other hand, if we consider disaster risk reduction and mitigation as well as recovery and reconstruction after disaster, it is necessary to improve community resilience in total. This presentation considers disaster risk reduction in Geoparks based on social geographical approach. Shaw and Sharma (2011) classified risks into two categories : Shocks and Stresses. Shock is a threat to the region, referring to "low probability but rapid onset and high impact events that cause immediate and visible damage," such as natural hazards, epidemics, conflicts, and terror. Stresses refer to "slow onset and low impact processes that are of high probability in the context of a day-to-day continuum of hardships," such as poverty, public health, and sea level rise. In Muroto, there is high level interest on shocks caused by natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and typhoons, but there seems to be little interest in chronic stresses such as population and birthrate decline, aging population, economic inequality, and infrastructure deterioration. Otherwise, even though locals recognize those are problems in itself, they do not notice that community resilience is weakend by such stresses. In social science research dealing with community resilience, the concept of social capital gives us clues to consider. Researches on the heat wave of Chicago, Hurricane Katrina, and the Great East Japan Earthquake showed that social capital as a resource to reduce damage during disaster and to enhance recovery after shocks. In addition, social capital is social networks, reciprocity, and trust that are built in daily life, and is expected to relieve daily and chronic stresses. This presentation discusses a case of Tanegashima, engaged in regional activities to maintain and enhance social capital. It also considers several characteristics of social capital in the island found on a questionnaire survey. As Geoparks, it is important to present comprehensive approach for disaster risk reduction including both social scientific and natural scientific perspectives.