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Community Resilience

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Taiki Matsuura, a researcher in forensic psychology at NYU Langone Medical Center, once said “Despite all the talk of human resilience being an individual trait, most of us are only resilient as we are loved.” I believe, in many ways, community resilience is of similar nature – communities may survive only by the participation of all its members. Community resilience is a process in which many individuals may themselves be strong enough to survive a disaster on their own, but lack of collaboration will result in a dysfunctional post-disaster community. In terms of a recovery framework, Norris and Pfefferbaum call upon a linking of “adaptive capacities” in order to successful have a community survive, adapt, and thrive following disturbances …show more content…

Participants we’re specifically asked to come to a consensus on plans which they felt appropriately reflected the values of the community and addressed they’re specific needs for mourning and remembrance of victims and honoring and support of survivors. While both plans may enjoy initially success in achieving these goals, they fall short in positively affecting community resilience in terms of rebuilding the DC community and returning to some level of pre-disaster functionality in the everyday lives of people such as financial ability, mental health, and sense of safety. Particularly, I will examine the planning for the physical memorial. By and large, no consensus was found in what form the physical memorial should take place and where exactly it should be located. I reason the lack of planning and the inability to co-operate leaves a negligible, and even negative impact, on community resilience as it fails to address the economic, social, health and wellness, and communication needs of the community. In fact, the failure to present a plan points to dysfunctionality in the operation of local government in restoring and mitigating changes caused by the initial metro bombing attack in China Town. Therefore, I shall seek to introduce a plan which addresses all facets of needs of the community alongside an …show more content…

It is clear in recovering from a disaster that economic resources, in terms of capital, labor, access to public services, are necessary in providing a “buffer to disaster stress” and effects such as displacement, job and property loss, and mental and physical health conditions (Norris et al 143). Since the poorest communities tend to be allocated these resources at an unequal amount compared to more influential communities, they must especially be taken into account. It is not uncommon for memorials to take place in the form of hospital wings, social services, or public funds. Therefore, in order to offset the community loss of life which may result in financial instability in the death of a breadwinner, the incurring of mental and physical injuries and conditions by survivors, and to further address the proportional financial loss experienced by China Town from a sense of insecurity, I propose the physical memorial takes the form of a public outpatient clinic located in China Town which offers mental health counselling services, physical rehabilitation and surgery, group therapy, financial planning, and financial support. This will be provided for by a fund set up by local government agencies and a donation by the federal

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