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Social capital and social learning after Hurricane Sandy

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Abstract

The post-disaster context is one characterized by profound uncertainty. Those affected by the storm, or earthquake, or flood, must determine what strategies to pursue in response to the disaster and must find ways to coordinate their recovery efforts with others in their community. Ex ante it is not clear what strategies will be most effective. If communities are to recover after a disaster, community members must engender and engage in a process of social learning involving experimentation, communication, and imitation. This paper explores the post-disaster social learning process. Specifically, we focus on the importance of social capital in facilitating social learning after a disaster, including facilitating community members’ ability to communicate their desire to return, to assess damage, to overcome barriers to rebuilding through collective yet voluntary action, and to learn from and imitate others’ successes. Focusing on how this process took place after Hurricane Sandy in Rockaway, New York, especially within the Orthodox Jewish community, we examine how community groups (a) adapted existing organization structures and (b) created new procedures and imitated the successful actions of others in order to spur recovery.
1 23
The Review of Austrian Economics
ISSN 0889-3047
Rev Austrian Econ
DOI 10.1007/s11138-016-0362-z
Social capital and social learning after
Hurricane Sandy
Virgil Henry Storr, Stefanie Haeffele-
Balch & Laura E.Grube
1 23
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Social capital and social learning after Hurricane Sandy
Virgil Henry Storr
1
&Stefanie Haeffele-Balch
1
&
Laura E. Grube
2
#Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016
Abstract The post-disaster context is one characterized by profound uncertainty.
Those affected by the storm, or earthquake, or flood, must determine what strategies
to pursue in response to the disaster and must find ways to coordinate their recovery
efforts with others in their community. Ex ante it is not clear what strategies will be
most effective. If communities are to recover after a disaster, community members must
engender and engage in a process of social learning involving experimentation, com-
munication, and imitation. This paper explores the post-disaster social learning process.
Specifically, we focus on the importance of social capital in facilitating social learning
after a disaster, including facilitating community membersability to communicate their
desire to return, to assess damage, to overcome barriers to rebuilding through collective
yet voluntary action, and to learn from and imitate otherssuccesses. Focusing on how
this process took place after Hurricane Sandy in Rockaway, New York, especially
within the Orthodox Jewish community, we examine how community groups (a)
adapted existing organization structures and (b) created new procedures and imitated
the successful actions of others in order to spur recovery.
Keywords Disaster recovery.Social learning .Social capital .Hurricane Sandy .
Rockaway, NY
JEL classification B53 .D71 .D83 .Q54
Rev Austrian Econ
DOI 10.1007/s11138-016-0362-z
*Laura E. Grube
grubel@beloit.edu
Virgil Henry Storr
vstorr@gmu.edu
Stefanie Haeffele-Balch
shaeffel@gmu.edu
1
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
2
Beloit College, Beloit, WI 53511, USA
Author's personal copy
1 Introduction
Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the East Coast of the United States on Monday,
October 29th, 2012. The storm is the second-largest Atlantic storm on record, having
affected numerous Caribbean islands and states along the eastern seaboard. In the U.S.,
over 70 lives were lost, $50 billion in damages were incurred, and over 8.5 million
households lost power (Blake et al. 2013). While the storm was downgraded from a
hurricane to a post-tropical cyclone before hitting New Jersey and New York, the
combination of 80 mph winds and a massive storm surge of up to nine feet of water
devastated coastal communities (ibid.). On the Rockaway Peninsulaa relatively
isolated peninsula in Queens, New York also known as the Rockawaysthere was
five to six feet of flood water, wide-spread power outages (120,000 were affected), and
fires resulting from the storm.
1
Residents went weeks without power and heat and had
to figure out others ways to assess damage, obtain resources, and recover.
Post-disaster environments are characterized by profound uncertainty. Those affect-
ed by hurricanes, for instance, must determine what strategies to pursue in response to
the disaster and must find ways to coordinate their recovery efforts with others in their
community. Since it is not obvious ex ante which recovery strategies are likely to be the
most effective, if communities are to recover after a disaster, community members must
engender and engage in a process of social learning involving experimentation, com-
munication, and imitation. This paper explores the post-disaster social learning process.
We focus on the importance of social capital in facilitating social learning after a
disaster, including facilitating community membersability to communicate their desire
to return, to assess damage, to overcome barriers to rebuilding through collective yet
voluntary action, and to learn from and imitate otherssuccesses.
Although the literature on post-disaster community recovery has emphasized the
importance of social capital and has highlighted the social learning process that occurs
after disasters, there has been significantly less attention paid to the importance of
social capital in facilitating social learning after a disaster. The literature on the role of
social capital in facilitating disaster recovery has tended to stress social capital as a
source of mutual aid and information exchange (Beggs et al. 1996; Hurlbert et al. 2000,
2001; Nakagawa and Shaw 2004; Chamlee-Wright and Storr 2009b;Aldrich2011,
2012; Storr and Haeffele-Balch 2012). Additionally, the literature on post-disaster
social learning processes has tended to focus on the actions of community leaders
who find ways to navigate the uncertainty and complications of providing assistance,
securing resources, and coordinating the return of displaced residents after a disaster
(see, for example, Chamlee-Wright 2010). Studies have, however, found that commu-
nity members can utilize their social networks to learn how to navigate the post-disaster
environment (Chamlee-Wright and Storr 2009a,b,2010,2011; Chamlee-Wright 2010;
Storr and Haeffele-Balch 2012; Grube and Storr 2014). This paper makes explicit the
often implicit connection between social capital and social learning in the literatures on
post-disaster community recovery.
The literature on post-disaster community recovery has also highlighted the capacity
of religious organizations to help community members overcome the challenges
1
Information on damage from report BSandy and Its Impact^through NYC.gov, available at http://www.nyc.
gov/html/sirr/downloads/pdf/final_report/Ch_1_SandyImpacts_FINAL_singles.pdf
Storr V.H. et al.
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associated with community revival after disasters. For instance, the congregation of the
Mary Queen of Vietnam Roman Catholic Church, an ethno-religious Vietnamese-
American community in New Orleans East, recovered more quickly after Hurricane
Katrina than neighboring communities (despite having experienced significantly more
damage) because of the efforts of religious and lay leadership in the church (Chamlee-
Wright and Storr 2009b). Similarly, Chamlee-Wright (2015) has shown how pastors in
New Orleans facilitated the delivery of relief services as well as longer term recovery
efforts in their communities after Hurricane Katrina. Although there is now quite a
sizeable literature on the role of religious groups after Hurricane Katrina, there has been
little scholarship to date on the role of religious organizations after Hurricane Sandy.
This paper helps to fill that gap.
2
The paper proceeds as follows. Section 2examines the literatures on social capital
and social learning after disasters and explores how community leaders can utilize
social capital to facilitate post-disaster social learning. Next, Section 3provides an
explanation of the research methods that we employ in the empirical section of the
paper. Section 4,then, explores how the communities in the Rockaways, New York,
were able to come together in order to respond and recover after Hurricane Sandy. The
analysis presented here is based on qualitative interviews conducted during the sum-
mers of 2013 and 2014. Specifically, we focus on how community leaders in the
Orthodox Jewish community in the Rockaways utilized available social capital to
facilitate social learning and so post-disaster community recovery after Hurricane
Sandy. Section 5offers concluding remarks.
2 Literatures on social capital and the process of social learning
after disasters
There are now quite sizeable literatures on the importance of social capital in facilitating
post-disaster community recovery as well as the social learning process that community
members rely on after disasters. Social capital, a term first thoroughly examined in the
social sciences by Bourdieu (1985), has been used to describe the resources that individ-
uals have access to because they belong to certain groups.
3
Woolcock (2001) identifies
three categories of social capital: bonding (i.e. the connections between members of close-
knit homogenous groups), bridging (i.e. ties between members of heterogeneous groups),
and linking (i.e. connections among members from very different social settings or
different positions of power within a community). Not surprisingly, scholars have found
that social capital can promote community recovery after disasters, providing emotional
support (Elliott and Pais 2006; Aldrich and Meyer 2015), enabling the exchange of
2
In section 5we discuss (briefly) how government assistance fits into the discussion of social learning.
Otherwise, we do not focus on the role of various government entities in post-disaster response and recovery
(e.g. the National Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the National Flood Insurance
Program).
3
Putnam popularized the term social capital in his 2000 book, Bowling Alone. Putnam, however, has
sometimes used social capital to refer to the level of trust in society, or levels of civic engagement. In his
1995 article with Helliwell on economic growth in Italy, for example, the authors adopt an index of social
capital that includes newspaper readership, sports and cultural associations, and voter turnout. For our
purposes, we stay closer to the definitions offered by Bourdieu (and Coleman 1988). An interested reader
may want to consult Portes (2000) on the two meanings of social capital (article has the same title).
Social capital and social learning after Hurricane Sandy
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information (Beggs et al. 1996; Chamlee-Wright and Storr 2009b), and making financial
and other resources available (Bolin and Stanford 1998; Nakagawa and Shaw 2004;
Aldrich 2012). Further, numerous studies have found that family members and faith
communities (i.e. bonding social capital) are an important source of immediate assistance
following disaster, and also play a key role in the decision to return and rebuild (Hurlbert
et al. 2000,2001; Chamlee-Wright and Storr 2009b). Others have pointed to the impor-
tance of bridging and linking social capital to access extra-community resources (Haw-
kins and Maurer 2010; Storr and Haeffele-Balch 2012).
Disaster victims utilize social capital to facilitate social learning after a disaster. If
social capital facilitates the individual interactions, social learning refers to the ways in
which those interactions contribute to enhanced coordination. Within sociology, social
learning has been used to describe the processes through which organizations and
communities learn to solve collective challenges. As Webler et al. (1995)explain,
social learning involves the cognitive enhancement of group/community members (i.e.
their acquisition of knowledge about the problems they face and strategies to overcome
them) as well as the moral development of group/community members (i.e. improve-
ments in their judgments of right and wrong).
4
The literature on social learning after disasters has focused on how social entrepre-
neurs bring about post-disaster recovery by making use of non-price signals about what
community members desire and which recovery strategies are most likely to be
successful. Chamlee-Wright (2010), for instance, has described the important role that
community leaders played in promoting social coordination and community recovery
throughout the Greater New Orleans region after Hurricane Katrina. Similarly, Storr
et al. (2015) explain how social entrepreneurs relied on their ability to attract donations
and volunteers as well as client demand to determine which courses of action to pursue.
These social entrepreneurs provide needed goods and services and signal to disaster
victims that community recovery is already underway. While Chamlee-Wright (2010)
and Storr et al. (2015) both stress the importance of social capital for community
recovery and focus on how social entrepreneurs promote post-disaster community
return by restoring disrupted social networks, they do not highlight the role of social
capital in facilitating social learning after a disaster. The connection between social
capital and social learning has remained implicit in these studies.
One reason that research on post-disaster recovery might have left the relationship
between social capital and social learning implicit is because that connection is obvious
in many respects.
5
Social learning is learning that results from social interactions and
4
The market order is perhaps the quintessential social learning process; however, in the market, prices
facilitate exchange. As Chamlee-Wright and Myers (2008: 152) explain, BSocial learning is the phenomenon
in which society achieves a level of coordination and cooperation that far exceeds the coordinating capacity of
any individual or group of individuals within society.^
5
Another reason that post-disaster research might not have explicitly addressed the connection between social
capital and social learning is that research has explored this relationship in mundane times. Burt (2001), for
instance, has argued that social entrepreneurs can improve upon existing social networks by finding and
exploiting informational opportunities within and across social networks. As Burt (ibid.) explains, in envi-
ronments where transactions are complex and information is imperfect, individuals may decide to imitate
others in their social network. They may imitate those who have a history of success (i.e. reputation) or those
who have received positive feedback. Through these innovations and imitations, social learning can take place
throughout the community, signaling which procedures and actions are likely to be successful and which are
not.
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involves the learning that takes place within groups. Social capital encompasses the
social networks to which individuals belong. As such, there is a clear connection
between social capital and social learning. Social learning necessarily involves leverag-
ing social capital. However, there is potentially much to gain by making explicit what
has previously been implicit.
Disaster victims utilize social capital to facilitate social learning after a disaster in
several ways. Social learning requires the transmission/communication of information,
improvement in individualsjudgments as a result of learning from others, and
imitation of successful others. Specifically, displaced disaster victims can utilize their
social networks to (a) communicate with key others their desire and plans to return and
rebuild; (b) aid them in assessing the damage to their homes and businesses and
deciding on a strategy for repairing the damage; (c) help them to overcome barriers
to rebuilding through collective yet voluntary action; and, (d) learn from and imitate
otherssuccesses. This post-disaster social learning often results in (1) community
organizations altering their existing structures in response to information and insights
garnered through their social networks, and (2) community leaders sharing and
adopting best practices from successful groups in nearby neighborhoods.
Post-disaster recovery presents a collective action challenge to those displaced by
the disaster (Chamlee-Wright and Storr 2009b; Storr et al. 2015). One key question that
disaster victims need answered before committing to return is whether or not others
from their neighborhoods, churches, and community organizations will also return. One
key challenge that displaced disaster victims must overcome is locating and commu-
nicating with those key others. If community members do not find ways to overcome
this challenge and discover the answers to this key question, they will not commit to
returning and rebuilding. Community members can, however, utilize their social
networks to communicate their plans to return to members of their network. Commu-
nity members can also utilize their social networks to learn about the plans of others in
their network who were displaced by the disaster. These others might be individuals
who, because of the disaster, are difficult to communicate with directly or individuals
who are only weakly connected or are multiple nodes away in the network. Chamlee-
Wright and Storr (2009a), for instance, examine how the Vietnamese-American com-
munity in New Orleans East was able to return and rebuild quickly after Hurricane
Katrina by relying on the extensive network between the leadership and parishioners of
the Mary Queen of Vietnam (MQVN) Church. Father Vien, the churchspastoratthe
time, was able to visit displaced residents at multiple evacuation sites in the weeks
following Katrina, share with them details about how others had weathered the storm,
and encourage his displaced parishioners to return and rebuild. Nakagawa and Shaw
(2004) explain how social networks and a community development organization in the
neighborhood of Mano in Japan, five kilometers west of Kobe, were able to share
information about rebuilding efforts and even published a weekly community newslet-
ter following the 1995 earthquake. Through various methods of communication, the
development organization and other community groups signaled a strong return.
Another set of questions that disaster victims will want to have answers to before
committing to return concerns the level of damage their homes and businesses
sustained and the strategies for repairing the damage that are most likely to be
successful. Assessing the extent of the damage is more difficult than it might appear
at first blush. Wind damage from tornadoes and hurricanes can cause structural damage
Social capital and social learning after Hurricane Sandy
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to buildings and flooding can cause damage, like mold, that is difficult to detect with
the naked eye and to identify without particular skills. Additionally, identifying the
viable strategies for recovery after a disaster and deciding between them can be quite
daunting. The carpenters, electricians, engineers, and contractors that disaster victims
must rely on to figure what repairs have to be made to their homes and businesses (and
to repair them) are sometimes members of their social networks and are often located
with the aid of members of their social networks. Johannisson and Olaison (2007), for
instance, examined the role of entrepreneurship after Hurricane Gudrun in Sweden and
found that Bemergency entrepreneurship^relied on bonding social capital to restructure
and integrate efforts after the storm.
6
And, Smith and Sutter (2013) explain how a local
insurance agent helped his customers and neighbors with claims after a tornado
destroyed homes and businesses in Joplin, Missouri.
In addition to the challenge of rebuilding their damaged homes and busi-
nesses, disaster victims often face other barriers to recovery. Disaster recovery
often depends on the restoration of public and community goods and services.
Moreover, disaster recovery can also require navigating a difficult and inflexible
bureaucratic process and even overcoming regulatory barriers that can stand in
the way of recovery. For instance, the Bring New Orleans Back Commission,
which was tasked with developing a comprehensive plan for New Orleans
recovery after Hurricane Katrina, originally designated some the communities
that suffered the most damage as potential green space and suggested that some
displaced residents not be allowed to rebuild unless they could prove that their
neighborhoods were viable. In several of these neighborhoods, social networks
proved to be important in teaching displaced residents about the threat to their
communitys rebuilding efforts and sharing information about how they might
work together collectively to overcome that threat. For instance, Chamlee-Wright
and Storr (2011b) describe how the MQVN community, organized around the
Catholic Church and led by Father Vien, were able to assemble 2000 parish-
ioners for Sunday mass two months following the storm, and therefore illustrated
the need for electricity to the local power company. When the city announced
plans to locate a landfill near MQVN, the community rallied together, and
members of the Vietnamese-American Youth Leadership Association (VAYLA)
protested in front of City Hall (ibid.). In another example, Storr and Haeffele-
Balch (2012) explain how in initial plans for the city Broadmoor was slated to
become green space. One week after the plans were released, the Broadmoor
Improvement Association (BIA), led by LaToya Cantrell, held a meeting on the
fate of the community. In addition, the BIA wrote a petition against the Bgreen
dot,^created a website to assist in outreach and rebuilding support, and orga-
nized their own Revitalization Committee to bring planning and rebuilding under
the communitys control (BIA 2006).
Finally, disaster victims can learn from and imitate those members of their
social networks that have successfully navigated the recovery process. Those
who return and rebuild most quickly not only serve as focal points around whom
6
While Johannisson and Olaison (ibid.) conclude that bonding social capital is the only type that can be
immediately Bput to work,^our analysis shows that it can be used in conjunction with bridging and linking
social capital to spur community recovery.
Storr V.H. et al.
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others can coordinate their recovery efforts, but also as guides through the the
recovery process. Patterson et al. (2010) emphasize the importance of community
and social capital in disaster decision-making and seek to develop a model which
identifies the role of community in risk perception, evacuation (e.g. residents
often look to their neighbors in deciding whether to evacuate), rebuilding (e.g.
residents share information about how to eliminate mold, what contractor to use,
or what permits are required), and recovery. Smith and Sutter (2013:176)
describe how businesses in Joplin, Missouri met together at the local chamber
ofcommerceandusedtheirnetworktoshareBspace, expertise, services, and
goods^to ensure successful recovery. Further, recognition of successful strategies
following disasters also inform preparation for future disasters and other chal-
lenges. Aldrich (2012: 101) notes how residents in Tamil Nadu, India recognized
that a neighboring community had made use of a local governance system (uur
panchayat) to coordinate relief following the 2004 tsunami, and upon seeing the
successful coordination, decided to organize a panchayat of their own.
Post-disaster community recovery depends on social learning and social
learning depends on social capital. The ties that bind community members to
each other and community leaders to those outside their communities facilitate
necessary social learning that can quicken post-disaster recovery. The rest of the
paper examines how communities in the Rockaways, New York utilized
existing social capital to address emergent needs and how social learning took
place within those communities after Hurricane Sandy. We argue that not only
is bonding social capital critical for facilitating social learning, but linking
social capital (i.e. the social links between members of different social groups)
is a vital mechanism for social learning in the midst of disaster recovery. The
experiences in the Rockaways after Hurricane Sandy highlight the importance
of social capital to social learning in the post-disaster context.
3 Research methodology
Our research is an extension of what began as the Gulf Coast Recovery Project,
carried out by Mercatus Center scholars and researchers following Hurricane
Katrina. The Gulf Coast Recovery Project sought to examine the political,
economic, and social aspects of recovery and adopted qualitative methods
(primarily in-depth interviews) to investigate post-disaster community redevel-
opment across New Orleans (Boettke et al. 2007). As social scientists trained in
the Austrian tradition, the scholars who participated in this project were eager
to understand how individuals on the ground were making plans, forming
expectations, carrying out action, and learning throughout the process. Further,
these scholars were interested to see how entrepreneurial action contributed or
did not contribute to larger social coordination. In order to closely examine and
interpret individual actions to access these individual plans, how expectations
are formed, and what is learned investigators adopted the method of in-depth
interviews. As Chamlee-Wright (2011: 160) has argued, qualitative methods can
serve as Ban essential component of operationalizing an economics of
meaning.^According to Chamlee-Wright (ibid.), investigators, through
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proximity with the individual and the use of structured, though open-ended
questions, can begin to develop a more rich understanding of decision-making
on the ground and how it contributes to larger social change.
7
Similarly, we rely on qualitative data in our study, derived from in-depth interviews
conducted in Queens, New York on the Rockaway Peninsula during the summers of
2013 and 2014. The Rockaway Peninsula was selected as the location for interviews
because various socioeconomic indicators for the area were roughly equivalent to New
York City-wide averages and the damage sustained was similar to the damage found in
other areas. In addition, the communities on the Rockaway Peninsula contain residents
who reside there full-time, unlike some of the coastal areas (particularly in New Jersey)
that are primarily second homes. According to 2010 Census figures, the high school
graduation rate for the Peninsula is approximately 78 % (compared to the City average
of 80.1 %) and median household income is $49,498 (City is $52,737), with a poverty
rate of 20.8 % (City is 20.6 %).
8
The City averages are only slightly better than those
for the Peninsula. The damage sustained was not as significant as in some communities
(e.g. Staten Island), however, flooding did result in property losses.
The interview guides used after Hurricane Sandy are based off of the interview
guides used for the Gulf Coast Recovery Project. The guides are constructed to ask
questions about pre-storm history (e.g. How long have you lived in the community?
What was the community like before Hurricane Sandy?), storm-story (e.g. Did you
evacuate? How did you weather the storm?), and post-Sandy life. Because of the robust
activities among civil society groups following Hurricane Katrina documented by the
Gulf Coast Recovery Project (for example, see Chamlee-Wright and Storr 2009a,b;
Storr and Haeffele-Balch 2012; Grube and Storr 2014), and our own interests on the
role of civil society post-disaster, we focused our interviews on residents and non-profit
groups. We interviewed several different organizations, including Catholic Charities
Brooklyn and Queens, the Rockaway Youth Task Force (a group made-up of young
leaders on the Rockaway Peninsula), members of the Orthodox Jewish community, and
a club that organized return and rebuilding among the surfing community. The orga-
nizations were selected from newspaper and online research of activity in the Rocka-
way Peninsula, and we deliberately sought out groups that served different demograph-
ic groups.
As we were walking the communities and interviewing several residents of the
Orthodox Jewish community, it quickly became clear that the community had carried
out a well-organized response to Hurricane Sandy. In order to understand the relation-
ships and various organizations involved in the effort, we elected to do a deeper dive
into the Orthodox Jewish community rather than continuing to broaden our study. In
this case, we intentionally followed up with references named in earlier interviews. The
individual stories provided information on how relationships and experiences of the
community were utilized to coordinate a collective recovery. This discovery process
revealed the embedded nature of the Orthodox Jewish community, where residents who
are members of different synagogues are nonetheless connected by networks of rabbis,
7
An interested reader might go to Chamlee-Wrights(2011) article, where she articulates the connection
between the interpretive turn in economics (of which Chamlee-Wrights teacher, Lavoie, was a key voice) and
the use of qualitative methods in economics.
8
From 2010 Census data for zip codes 11,691, 11,697, and 11,694. Available online at http://factfinder2.
census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml
Storr V.H. et al.
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schools, and various club goods that their religious leaders provide. Further, we learned
how this community engages with other groups in the broader Rockaways. These
insights into the community highlighted the importance of personal relationships and
interactions in post-disaster recovery that we could only gain from talking to residents
and community leaders.
In total, we conducted sixteen interviews. The interviews lasted between 30 min and
2 h. The interviews were recorded and then transcribed. Whenever a personstruename
is important, or details of the individual presented divulge their identity, we use their
actual name. Otherwise, we use pseudonyms for our interview subjects, which are
denoted with the B
^symbol. In addition to the interview data, we used secondary
sources (e.g. news stories, magazine articles, and written histories) to find information
and corroborate data.
4 Social learning in Rockaways, New York
The Rockaway Peninsula is the outer most area of the Borough of Queens in New York
City. The Peninsula was once a popular summer resort getaway for wealthy New
Yorkers, but has since become a mixed-income residential area, including numerous
public housing buildings as well as middle- and upper-class residential areas. However,
over a third of the seven square miles of land on the Peninsula is still dedicated to
recreational use and open space, including Fort Tilden and the Rockaway Boardwalk
and Beach, which are frequently utilized by New Yorkers seeking a daytrip getaway.
The Rockaways population was just under 115,000 people in 2010, and the percentage
of the population on income assistance is roughly the same as New York City as a
whole, at 35 % in 2013.
9
Far Rockaway is one of the largest communities on the Peninsula, with roughly half
of the total population. According to a profile in the New York Times in 2008, Far
Rockaway consists of a large immigrant population as well as a large Orthodox Jewish
community constituting approximately one fifth of the population (Hughes 2008). The
communitydiverse in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, and incomehosts com-
muters who work in New York City as well as locals that maintain a relatively isolated
life out on the Peninsula.
The Orthodox Jewish community has thrived in the area, forming dozens of
synagogues, schools, and other organizations. Residents live within walking distance
of their synagogue and shop in the local kosher groceries and restaurants. Organizations
have been created to help residents abide by the laws of the Torah and navigate
medical, legal, and financial issues, including the Hatzalah volunteer ambulance service
and Achiezer Community Resource Center.
10
This close-knit community had numerous
social networks to rely on after Hurricane Sandy, including a network of local rabbis
and preexisting organizations like Achiezer as well as ties to the broader Orthodox
Jewish community in New York City. Across town, there are neighborhoods consisting
primarily of public housing units and apartment complexes where heterogeneous
9
For these statistics and more, see the profile of Queens Community District 14, http://www.nyc.gov/html/
dcp/html/neigh_info/qn14_info.shtml.
10
For more information, see http://www.hatzalahrl.org/ and http://achiezer.org/.
Social capital and social learning after Hurricane Sandy
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groups have weak social connections. However, non-profit organizations, such as the
Rockaway Youth Task Force, were able to utilize these weak ties to provide disaster
assistance to the community.
11
In both groups, community leaders were able to (a) utilize previously established
networks and organizational structures to provide resources and information in the
immediate aftermath of the storm and (b) create new initiatives to tackle pressing
problems and imitated the successful efforts of others within their community. As the
following examples will highlight, the strong ties of the Orthodox Jewish community
enabled them to recover by capitalizing on their expertise and relationships without the
need of much government assistance. Further, despite the loosely-connected heteroge-
neous character of more densely populated neighborhoods, community leaders were
able to utilize their existing organizational structures and imitate the successful efforts
of the Orthodox Jewish community to fill the gap of immediate assistance while they
waited for formal reinforcements.
4.1 Altering existing organizational structures
4.1.1 Achiezer and the Community Assistance Fund
The Achiezer Community Resource Center is a crisis center in Far Rockaway, New
York, which was established in 2009 as a multi-faceted support center for the Orthodox
Jewish community in Far Rockaway. Rabbi Boruch B. Bender, the founder and
president of Achiezer, decided to start the Center after experiencing a sudden illness
and subsequent surgeries and hospital stays. He realized he could help others navigate
the medical system, and soon Achiezer became a one-stop-shop for providing assistance
with health, financial, and legal issues. The Center incorporates and utilizes the complex
network of local rabbis, who refer clients, give advice, and assist the Center in providing
goods and services to the community that are consistent with their religious beliefs.
Whenever unexpected issues arise, people turn to Achiezer for help. As Hurricane
Irene approached in 2011, Achiezer received more than 500 phone calls asking for help
in preparation of the storm. And Rabbi Bender made sure they could help, working with
Hatzalah, the local volunteer ambulance service, to transport 70 disabled and elderly
citizens to inland shelters (Bensoussan 2012). While Hurricane Irene did little damage to
the area, it became clear that people would turn to Achiezer if a similar crisis arose.
As Hurricane Sandy approached, Rabbi Bender held a meeting at Achiezer with
community leaders, organization representatives, and local officials on Sunday after-
noon. At the meeting, they discussed contingency plans in case the storm proved more
powerful than expected. Achiezer also issued email notifications with information
about the storm including road closures, evacuation procedures, reports on damage,
as well as resources for response and recovery. They started by utilizing their
preexisting email database of roughly 9000 contacts, and over 1180 people requested
to be added to list in the days following the storm. The next afternoon, as the storm
came closer and as the weather got increasingly worse, the phone calls started coming
in. That first night, Rabbi Bender estimates that they received 500 phone calls and
coordinated assistance efforts as residents dealt with flooding, power outages, and
11
For more information on the Rockaway Youth Task Force, see http://rytf.org/.
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damage. After the Achiezer offices lost power and telephone service, they moved the
entire operation to Rabbi Benders house and set up in his dining room. For the next
week, Achiezer fielded approximately 1500 phone calls a day and helped transport over
300 families whose houses had flooded to temporarily relocate to Brooklyn, Queens,
and other locations (Bensoussan 2012).
The communitys connections with other Orthodox Jewish communities across the
country proved vital to getting resources. Three synagoguesthe Young Israel of
Wavecrest and Bayswater, the White Shul in Far Rockaway, and the Shor Yoshuv
Institute in Lawrencestarted getting volunteers and donations and became relief
centers for the community. Achiezer helped field donations, secure generators, and
distribute supplies. For example, kosher food came in from Brooklyn, Queens, and
upstate New York, gas and generators were delivered from Baltimore, and trucks
arrived to take damaged holy books and give them a proper burial, as required by
religious doctrine and customs.
In order to coordinate the influx of monetary donations, Achiezer and the Davis
Memorial Fund, reinitiated the Community Assistance Fund (CAF) bank account,
which had previously been used to help community members during the recession.
12
They developed a structure for assessing claims and distributing funds, led by a three-
person board of trustees. Further, they recruited local community members with needed
expertise (for example, attorneys, an accountant, and a professional fundraiser). The
CAF team also enlisted the help of 48 rabbis, located throughout Far Rockaway, to
work as representatives to spread the word about the program and help residents apply
for funding. The representatives served many functions during the process, often
listening to peoples stories, providing emotional support, and recommending contrac-
tors and vendors. Once residents filled out applications, the representatives submitted
them to the board of trustees, who would review the applications and make final
decisions on funding.
The CAF program was broken down into three phases.
13
The first phase, called
emergency cash assistance, was $20003000 per household for generators and emer-
gency resources. Phase 2, the coming home project, averaged around $10,000 per
household and went toward removing water and mold and other repairs so families
could return to their homes as quickly as possible. And finally, phase 3 provided major
financial assistance for the rebuilding of homes damaged by the storm. Overall, $11.3
million was raised and distributed to over 1000 families. Less than a year after the
storm, Rabbi Bender expressed pride in his teams ability to raise and distribute the
funds quickly and efficiently,
the staggering fact from this, which I am extremely proud of, and I want you to
watch the media and the Attorney General speaking about the fact that a lot of
places who raised money for Sandy, but it still didnt get out. We raised it, $11
million, and we gave out $11 million and there was no overhead costs.
By utilizing the preexisting organization and networks of the community,
Rabbi Bender turned Achiezer into a disaster crisis center that funneled and
12
For more information see this video on CAF: http://youtu.be/DuVIA6iJ3lQ.
13
For more information, see https://www.achiezer.org/images/news_ad.pdf.
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distributed needed information and resources. This effort was possible given the
strength and connections embedded within the Orthodox Jewish community,
which utilized both the bonding and bridging social capital as Achiezer relied
upon the network of rabbis to implement CAF to their various congregations.
4.1.2 Young Israel relief center
Within a day after the storm, the Young Israel of Wavecrest and Bayswater transformed
into a relief center for the Bayswater community, where residents could get hot meals
and supplies, access power and the internet, and coordinate efforts to clear debris and
repair their homes. The synagogue is in many ways the center of the community and
was the logical place for residents to turn to after a disaster.
Shaindle Russell, or Mrs. Russell as she is referred to by her neighbors, is a
longtime resident of Bayswater. The morning after Sandy hit, she was relieved
that her house was not flooded and went for a walk with a friend to check out
the rest of the neighborhood. They came upon Agudas Yisroel of Bayswater and
mourned the devastation of the synagogue and holy books. It was then that she
realized the damage inflicted on her neighborhood. In a piece for Jewish Action,
Mrs. Russell (2013) recalled, BThatswhenithitme:myhousewasfine,my
family was fine, but my neighborhood wasnt. I had to help.^They then went to
Young Israel and spoke to the Rabbi about addressing the need to provide
electricity and food. As Mrs. Russell recalls, BIsaid,You are going to have a
food issue.So he goes, Okay, we are opening a food pantry and you are in-
charge.So I was like, Okay, no problem.^
Mrs. Russell got right to work preparing the kitchen and calling in requests for
donations. She explained that within a few hours they received food from the
Jewish Community Council, and by the third or fourth day they were serving 300
400 people three hot meals a day as well as snacks. She received food from
catering companies in Brooklyn and placed orders for fresh produce and other
goods from a local grocery store. Mrs. Russell and three of her friends ran the
kitchen from 7 AM to midnight every day for 2 weeks. They set up the food,
cleared dishes, and talked with residents.
Young Israel became a needed social space, not just a place to receive food
and supplies. As Mrs. Russell recalls, BAnybody who needed anything was
welcometocomein,andwemadepeoplefeelthatway.Andwewerejust
the word got out through lots of phone calls that we were the resource in the
area.^In between meals, Mrs. Russell and her friends would talk to the other
residents, providing emotional support and sharing information, including how to
apply for CAF assistance. When spirits were down, Mrs. Russell helped people
cope by bringing up imagery of summer camp. She recalled that, BItold
everybody, Okay guys, when the chips are down this is summer camp, sing,
just stay happy.^
Further, the Rockaway Citizens Safety Patrol (RCSP), a volunteer group in
Bayswater and Far Rockaway, set up their headquarters at Young Israel to aid the
recovery effort. While the RCSP is a primarily Jewish organization, they are concerned
with the overall safety of the community and patrol the entire neighborhood and
maintain a 24-h hotline. As Jason Shtundel, the founder of the RCSP explains, BOne
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of the benefits of having a citizens patrol is that we know our neighbors and we know
what is out of the ordinary. If I see a stranger in a car that I know belongs to my
neighbor, I do not have to think twice about calling the police^(The Wave 2013).
14
The RCSP expanded their role in the community in the days before and after Sandy.
Volunteers helped to evacuate sick and elderly individuals in the community prior to the
storm and helped to distribute hot food prepared in the kitchen by Mrs. Russell and
coordinate debris, water, and mold removal in the weeks following the storm. They also
extended patrol hours to cover the neighborhood 24/7. The Bayswater community did
not suffer from looting after the storm.
15
As the recovery effort went on, and more and more goods and services were
funneled through Young Israel, the Rabbi asked a resident, Tom Schmitz
,tooversee
and coordinate operations. Schmitz mediated between the Red Cross, National Guard,
and other groups that came to Bayswater and wanted to donate or help with the
recovery effort in some way.
Young Israel quickly became the hub for disaster relief and recovery in Bayswater.
The preexisting organizational structure of the synagogue and its members enabled an
easy transition to provide goods and services after the storm. Further, the neighbor-
hoods leaders, including Mrs. Russell, Shtundel, Schmitz, and others, stepped up to
fulfil the immediate and longer term recovery needs of the community. Their efforts
exemplify the importance of bonding social capital to facilitate post-disaster recovery.
4.1.3 The Rockaway Youth Task Force distribution center
Across town, families and elderly residents were stuck without electricity and hot water
in a neighborhood of densely populated apartment complexes and public housing units.
Milan Taylor, the founder and president of the Rockaway Youth Task Force (RYTF),
realized he could help his community in the days immediately following the storm.
Taylor started RYTF in 2011 in order to encourage young residents of the Rockaways
to engage in civic and community affairs in order to address social ills, such as gang
violence, teen pregnancies, and unemployment. Taylor, a college student raised in the
Rockaways, was able to use his interest in criminal justice and his passion for his
community to inspire others to do the same. After Hurricane Sandy, Taylor utilized his
connections and experiences from RYTF, including his prior community disaster
response training, to provide resources to the community.
Taylor evacuated for the storm, but returned the next morning and immediately went
to work. He arranged to set up a distribution center in the space of a local co-op and
used social media to ask for volunteers and donations. Within 3 days, Taylor and over
100 volunteers were distributing bags with 2 daysworth of supplies to residents in
three large apartment complexes (Miller 2012). As one RYTF member, Shalaka Cox
told CBS News,BTheres times when it might be overwhelming but then I think about
what were actually doing. I think in the last few days weve been able to reach over
14
The RCSP works closely with the 101st Precinct, the nearby police station. The RCSP can follow-up on
reported suspicions before calling the police, and the RCSP can also monitor a situation while waiting for
police to arrive.
15
Admittedly, the concern over looted following disaster is perhaps overstated. For example, see Barsky et al.
(2006).
Social capital and social learning after Hurricane Sandy
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500 families, so knowing that keeps me going^(ibid.). The distribution center operated
for about a week, until the electricity was restored to the neighborhood.
Because of the RYTFs familiarity with the community, they realized that many of the
residents, particularly the elderly, would have a difficult time climbing the dark stairwells
of their apartment complexes in order to go to the National Guard and FEMA distribution
centers. Instead, they decided to bring supplies to the residents. Taylor recalled,
[P]art of what I saw, when we were collecting the food from the National
Guarda lot of people were standing in lines for this food. And I just thought
about, okay if you are an elderly or disabled person, how are you getting the food,
so we actually werent a traditional distribution site. What we did is we worked in
two phases, the first phase, we did a canvas, where we knocked on door-to-door,
and we saw who needed goods and services. And then on the second visit, which
we did the same day, we kind of created a checklist for each household. And then
we went back and created custom [bags] for them.
During that week, Taylor proved that he knew the needs of the community and could
provide the local knowledge needed to obtain and distribute resources, highlighting the
importance of bridging social capital in loosely-connected, heterogeneous groups. In an
interview with CBS News, Taylor concluded that, BThere is no community leadership
guiding FEMA, guiding the Red Cross, because theyre not from this community, so
they dont know where the needs are^(ibid.). And in the months following the storm,
Taylor worked a liaison for the Red Cross in an effort to share his experiences and
lessons from the storm. The bridging social capital formed through participating in the
RYTF proved useful when calling on volunteers to work the distribution center and
check on elderly neighbors in the immediate days after Hurricane Sandy.
4.2 Innovation and imitation from within and outside of the community
4.2.1 Implementing the Community Assistance Fund
As mentioned previously, the Community Assistant Fund was organized by Achiezer
and the Davis Memorial Fund. They enlisted the help of 48 rabbis to spread the word
about the Fund and help residents with applications. Once applications were submitted,
the board of trustees would review and approve requests for funding. While CAF was
structured to ensure that the funds were handled appropriately and distributed to
residents in need, they also relied on local rabbis to implement the Fund in their
neighborhoods. The decentralized nature of using representatives allowed for innova-
tion in how rabbis disseminated information about the Fund and collected applications.
The story of Rabbi Mordechai Kruger, a rabbi at the Agudas Yisroel of Bayswater
and CAF representative for the Bayswater community, exemplifies the innovations that
came out of implementing the Fund. Rabbi Krugers prior experience and personal
relationships with his community enabled him to not only get residents to sign up for
CAF, but to also find new ways of collecting data on the interests and needs of the
community.
Starting in 2002, Rabbi Kruger founded the Bayswater Neighbors Fund to provide
short-term support for those in need. The small donations are intended to help families
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purchase food for holidays, pay their monthly bills, or cover tuition for school. While
Rabbi Kruger relies on other members of the community to observe when someone
needs help and consults the other rabbis in the community for guidance, he aims to
keep the donations and distributions anonymous. The residents of Bayswater trust him
to distribute the funds to worthy families who are trying to be responsible and get back
on their feet. Additionally, he has worked as a case worker for Met Council and now is
a director of a non-profit that helps Jewish adults identify their career goals and gain the
training and experience needed to fulfil their goals.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Rabbi Kruger utilized his experience and
skillset to help the Bayswater community recover. He recalls how he assumed the
position of representing Bayswater for CAF, Bafter 36 hours [Achiezer] was asking
these volunteers to coordinate distributions of funds, and I dont know if anybody told
me to go, I just kind of showed up[and said] okay, I will do it.^The reputation he had
built in the community helped him reach out to those who needed help. Rabbi Kruger
noted that,
Sandy was very equal opportunity and nobody did anything wrong, but people
were very embarrassed [to ask for help]. So trust and comfort and being willing to
talk about your loses, its not easy, so wemobilize[d] people who already had
trust in the community, the rabbis, other community activists, whatever I had
been doing, that definitely makes the whole thing easier.
By utilizing trusted members of the community, Rabbi Kruger was able to spread the
word about CAF, encourage applications, and help the community receive the supplies
and resources it needed to recover. He worked with a couple in the neighborhood to
build a spreadsheet that would help assess the needs of the community. They developed
a list of needed goods, surveyed the neighborhood, and documented stated needs in the
spreadsheet, which was then used to match with incoming donations and coordinate
purchases. For example, if someone wanted to donate mattresses, Rabbi Kruger could
look at the spreadsheet to see how many mattresses were destroyed in the storm. Rabbi
Kruger explained the benefits of the spreadsheet,
What that ended up doing was that there were fund givers who would come
forward with specific interests...[W]e were able to pull that informationwe can
tell you how many of those we need[T]hat made it a lot easier to approach
funders and it really sped up the relief effort.
Rabbi Kruger also relied on the volunteers at the relief center at Young Israel
of Wavecrest and Bayswater, to talk to residents and encourage them to apply for
CAF resources. They helped spread the word about CAF by sending emails,
handing out fliers, and checking on the elderly by going door-to-door. In
particular, Rabbi Kruger relied on Mrs. Russell, who ran the kitchen at Young
Israel after the storm. He frequently relies on her connection to the community to
determine which families need help and should receive funds from the Bayswater
Neighborhood Fund, and did the same when spreading the word about CAF after
Hurricane Sandy. As Mrs. Russell recalled, B[Rabbi Kruger] saw that I really had
that in control so then he goes, Do me a favor, I have these applications. Can
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you work the crowd and find out who needs money and whose houses were
destroyed and we can get them the money.^So after the food was served, and
people were eating and socializing, Mrs. Russell would walk around and talk to
residents about CAF. BI was able to work the crowd and make sure that people
filled out applications, and I had to convince some people because they didnt
want to take from anybody,^she said.
Additionally, when other residents in the community came up with innovative
ways to obtain resources, Rabbi Kruger made sure to encourage their efforts. One
Bayswater resident, Tobias Cohen
, realized that since his house had flooded and
would need repairs and new appliances, his neighbors on his street were most
likely in the same situation. So he decided to try to purchase equipment and
arrange for repairs in bulk. Cohen, an accountant with clients in property
management, used his contacts and called wholesalers and contractors to arrange
for bulk purchases and services. This enabled the neighborhood to get equipment
at a discount and entice contractors by offering a weeks worth of work instead of
piecemeal jobs. Rabbi Kruger realized the benefit this had for the community,
recalling that, Byou had ten people who would hire a guy who would do all of our
boilers so they would bring a crew and would work house, house, house, house
and it lowered the cost and that worked really well.^
The innovations in Bayswaterincluding documenting needs on a spreadsheet,
purchasing equipment and repair services in bulk, and utilizing Mrs. Russell and other
trusted community members to spread the word about CAFwere communicated to
the broader Orthodox Jewish community in CAF meetings at Achiezer. Rabbi Kruger
explained that initially, no one really knew what to do,
[T]here was a huge amount of learning because nobody knew how to do this
stuff. It wasnt like we had practiced drills, and we originally sat in a room and
just kind of looked at each other, we didntreallyknowwhattodoand so
Achiezer and the Community Assistance Fund said, Bokay, we are going to start
raising moneywe dont really know how much we are going to get, but try to
get a sense of what youll need, and well see what happens.^
And as people came across problems or discovered useful resources and procedures,
they discussed them with one another. As Rabbi Kruger recollected,
Well, Achiezer was the nexus of everything and there were regular meetings there
to get together and talk about what has happened, what can we do next, what are
going to be the guidelines for the funds that are available, so I remember being
there in the dark sitting there by candlelight, and there was an enormous amount
of respect and willingness to listen and that was extremely important because
none of us knew what we were doingEverybody was given a chance to ask
whatever was on your mind, talk to anybody, nobody was rushing outThat was
extremely important.
Rabbi Kruger and his team of trusted neighbors were able to tap into the bonding
social capital in Bayswater in order to develop new procedures for assessing damages,
disseminating information about CAF, and coordinating repairs.
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4.2.2 The White Shul relief center
As mentioned previously, three synagogues became resource centers that provided
warm meals, clothing, generators, and other needed goods and services. These resource
centers served as focal points, where residents could talk to neighbors, get
supplies, and coordinate repairs. While the center at Young Israel was up and
running within a day of the storm, the White Shul in Far Rockaway was not
utilized as a relief center right away, but rather became one as the week went on
and residents realized they needed to address the pressing issues of a prolonged
lack of electricity, supplies, and schooling. Like Young Israel, the White Shul was
the logical location to gather since it was in many ways the spiritual and cultural
center of the Orthodox Jewish community.
While Chaim Leibtag, the president at the White Shul, had lived and worked
in the Far Rockaway Orthodox Jewish community for decades, he was new to
his position at the synagogue. However, this did not stop him from jumping right
in and working with others in the community to turn the synagogue into a relief
center. His first call was to a rabbi at Young Israel, who could help him find
contacts for generators, food, clothing, and other donations. By utilizing his
network in the community, Leibtag was able to imitate the successful efforts of
the Young Israel, and in short order the White Shul was up and running as a
relief center.
They were able to borrow a spare generator from Young Israel, and quickly set up
outdoor lighting typically used for holidays, a charging station, and even hooked up a
wireless internet connection so members of the congregation could use the internet to
check on family and request supplies and services. Then food and clothing started
coming in, including fresh groceries donated by a local grocer. Volunteers and residents
began cooking hot meals, serving roughly 300 meals three times a day, and setting up
space to distribute supplies.
Once the relief center was established, Leibtag and other volunteers found new ways
to handle donations and provide services to the community. For instance, a truck of
gasoline was arranged to stop at the synagogue. When someone from Maryland offered
to pay for a bus to take people who wanted to get away down south, Leibtag asked
them to return the empty bus with full containers of gasoline. He then emailed out
instructions to the congregation, setting up times to pick up filled containers of gas,
giving first priority to emergency personnel and then fulfilling the needs of residents.
The distribution went smoothly and provided needed fuel to run generators and
equipment for repairs.
As the adults dealt with relief and rebuilding efforts, the children of the congregation
were getting restless. Leibtag worked with some parents and teenage volunteers to set
up activities, lessons, and entertainment. These activities went well into the evening
each night and was a welcome break for the adults who were dealing with clearing
debris, draining floodwater, and rebuilding their homes.
Leibtag then worked with a local pediatrician to set up a clinic in the White Shul. Dr.
Hylton Lightmans office suffered over five feet of flood water and sewage.
Fortunately, he and his wife had prepared by storing their vaccine inventory and
computer with electronic records during the storm and could easily set up shop in a
temporary location. As Dr. Lightman (2013)recalled,BWithin 72 h of Mr. Leibtags
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offer, we were fully operational.^Dr. Lightman ended up staying at the White Shul for
6 months while his office was gutted and rebuilt.
And, when FEMA arrived two weeks after the storm, they set up an information
center in the White Shul since it was the place where residents came for food,
resources, and information.
16
According to Leibtag, the National Guard also came by
around 2 weeks into recovery and offered a truck load of food. Since they already had
food services up and running, Leibtag offered the additional supplies to a local church.
By being flexible and utilizing his connections in the community, Leibtag ensured
that the congregation had the support they needed to recover. He relied on his social
network to learn from the Young Israel relief center and was innovative when new
opportunities and issues arose. Further, he shared these lessons and resources with
organizations outside of the Orthodox Jewish community. Leibtagsaccesstoboth
bonding and bridging social capital was essential in learning how to establish a relief
center after the storm.
4.2.3 Improving the Rockaway Youth Task Force distribution center
As highlighted in the previous section, Milan Taylor and the Rockaway Youth Task
Force utilized their existing social networks to mobilize a distribution center and supply
delivery service after Hurricane Sandy. Taylor recognized the challenges that traditional
distributions centers faced and altered his operation to better serve the needs of the
community. Further, he surveyed other relief and recovery efforts and imitated useful
aspects of their operations.
For instance, Taylor decided to drive through other neighborhoods and survey the
damage of the Peninsula. When he drove through Bayswater, he realized that many
homes had generators within days of the storm. Since he knew some of the Orthodox
Jewish community leaders from civic organizations and meetings, he stopped by Young
Israel and was impressed by their operations. When he got back to the distribution
center, he imitated their organizational system and started using walkie-talkies like he
saw being used at the synagogue.
Taylor was able to alter the typical organization of distributional center in order to
fulfil the needs of residents stranded in large apartment complexes after the storm and
to imitate useful practices from the efforts of the Orthodox Jewish community. While
they provided support for different communities in the Rockaways, Taylor was able to
observe and imitate the close-knit group of the Orthodox Jewish community in order to
provide better services to his own loosely-connected neighborhood. Taylorsefforts
exemplify how linking social capital can be accessed to enhance recovery after a
disaster.
5 Implications and conclusion
After a disaster, communities are faced with limited resources and uncertainty. Whether
residents evacuate and have to determine when to return or if they stay and have to find
16
See notice from The Jewish Star, available online at http://thejewishstar.com/stories/Hurricane-aftermath-
updates,3670
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ways to obtain resources while they wait for services to be restored, communities rely
on one another to signal and coordinate return and recovery efforts. After Hurricane
Sandy, the Rockaways suffered from flooding, wind damage, and prolonged power
outages. Despite this, community leaders in neighborhoods throughout the Peninsula
were able to coordinate relief and recovery efforts by utilizing their preexisting social
networks and engaging in entrepreneurial acts that allowed for social learning to take
place. In the post-disaster context, social learningwhich takes place across bonding,
bridging, and linking forms of social capitaloccurs when communities are able to (a)
adapt existing organization structures and (b) create new procedures and imitate the
successful actions of others in order to spur recovery.
There are several important implications to the study. First, our research
illustrates that even individuals who are outside of close-knit, homogeneous, and
highly effective groups, such as the Orthodox Jewish community (or the Mary
Queen of Vietnam community), stand to benefit from the innovations of those
groups. Social learning can take place through bonding social capital, but it can
also take place through bridging and linking social capital and can accrue benefits
to other groups. Taylor, of the RYTF, had a weak tie with the Orthodox Jewish
community, and was able to use this connection to see their recovery efforts and
then imitate a few of their best practices in his own group. This finding lessens
some of the concerns around Bthe dark side of social capital,^or, specifically,
worries that the benefits of social capital only accrue to some, at the exclusion of
others (for example, see Aldrich 2012 chapter 5).
Second, the argument presented and empirical evidence serve as a counter to
literature that suggests formal assistance, or government-led aid, is required to
ensure effective response and rebuilding (see, for instance, Birch and Wachter
2006; Schneider 2008; Cigler 2009;Springer2011). Further, the study identifies a
potential advantage for civil society organizations over government assistance
programs. Social learning, and the ability to alter existing organizational structures
and adopt best practices from successful groups, is especially important in the
post-disaster context because circumstances are widely uncertain and apt to
change. Not only are no two disasters identical, but the problems that residents
confront 1 day after the storm are not necessarily the same problems they must
take on 2 weeks later. This implication is closely related, and further corroborates
the arguments made by Coyne and Lemke (2012)andStorretal.(2015) regarding
the flexibility and adaptability of polycentric systems (which make room for civil
society organizations) over monocentric systems (which privilege government led
action), that tend to be rigid and inflexible.
Third, although social learning can help to increase coordination in the post-disaster
scenario, there are also actions and policies that can frustrate social learning and prevent
recovery. Policymakers should avoid such policies. Chamlee-Wright (2007) has de-
scribed various sources of signal noise, such as (1) regulatory rigidity, (2) complications
around flood maps and flood insurance, and (3) redevelop planning (in particular,
attempts to engage in comprehensive planning that requires too much time to develop
and carry out and planning that ignores established property rights). All three of these
items increase the costs or prevent individuals from beginning the recovery process.
When individuals cannot act, then the opportunity for improvement in judgment
as a result of learning from others does not take place and individuals cannot
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imitate successful others. In other words, when post-disaster environments are
riddled with signal noise and other burdensome policies, the possibility for social
learning is eliminated. Instead, Chamlee-Wright (ibid.) and Smith and Sutter
(2013) have recommended suspending certain regulations (e.g. occupational
licensing) and allowing for decentralized recovery efforts (as opposed to com-
prehensive plans). Our study highlights the importance of social learning in post-
disaster recovery and, therefore, argues that a stable and encouraging policy
environment will facilitate recovery.
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Social capital and social learning after Hurricane Sandy
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... Glöckner (2010) cites Cohen stating that 'increasing economic security in private life normally correlates with a growing commitment in the local Jewish community. ' It was observed that the articles on natural disasters refer more often to the material categories, except for one article by Storr that deals specifically with social capital (Storr et al., 2016). Articles dealing with more continuous adversities tend to focus on the immaterial categories. ...
... In the present scoping review we found that in most studies (n = 9) the Jewish diaspora communities were characterized as a place-based community (Chalew, 2007;Storr et al., 2016Storr et al., , 2017. Place-based communities are communities of people who are bound together because of where they reside, work, visit or otherwise spend a continuous portion of their time (Gieryn, 2000). ...
... In the general literature on community resilience, numerous studies and policy documents address the distinct phases communities go through when dealing with adversities and distinguish four phases of dealing with a disaster: preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery (Maguire and Hagan, 2007;FEMA, 2019). In this scoping review comparable phases were identified in articles that describe the aftermath of a natural disaster (Chalew, 2007;Storr et al., 2016Storr et al., , 2017 and in the policy-oriented articles (Carp, 2007;Horwitz, 2007;Pollock, 2007). ...
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Introduction Throughout history, Jewish communities have been exposed to collectively experienced traumatic events. Little is known about the role that the community plays in the impact of these traumatic events on Jewish diaspora people. This scoping review aims to map the concepts of the resilience of Jewish communities in the diaspora and to identify factors that influence this resilience. Methods We followed the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology. Database searches yielded 2,564 articles. Sixteen met all inclusion criteria. The analysis was guided by eight review questions. Results Community resilience of the Jewish diaspora was often described in terms of coping with disaster and struggling with acculturation. A clear definition of community resilience of the Jewish diaspora was lacking. Social and religious factors, strong organizations, education, and communication increased community resilience. Barriers to the resilience of Jewish communities in the diaspora included the interaction with the hosting country and other communities, characteristics of the community itself, and psychological and cultural issues. Discussion Key gaps in the literature included the absence of quantitative measures of community resilience and the lack of descriptions of how community resilience affects individuals’ health-related quality of life. Future studies on the interaction between community resilience and health-related individual resilience are warranted.
... In the context of disaster recovery, (Storr et al., 2017) argues that across social networks, disaster victims can (1) communicate with others about returning home and rebuilding, (2) aid one another in damage assessment and repair, (3) overcome collective action problems to provide shared goods, and (4) learn about or share best practices in recovery efforts. These four means of social learning aid communities by increasing the availability of knowledge the community can use. ...
... 3 As these examples illustrate, much of the literature on social learning and social capital by Austrian economists has focused on explicit knowledge development and transfer. Studies of social capital in the post-disaster context have emphasized the role of social capital in conveying knowledge to political agents, spreading the word about resources available nearby, collecting lists of community members' needs, and more (Chamlee-Wright & Storr, 2011a;Storr et al., 2017). The emergent channels of social learning have been neglected in this literature. ...
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A robust literature on social learning examines how social capital facilitates communication of explicitly articulated knowledge between disparate individuals and groups, especially after disaster. We argue that this work has overlooked social learning that takes place via emergent channels through social capital. We divide social learning into four categories depending on whether the knowledge in question is transferred between agents or newly discovered by an agent, and whether the process takes place emergently and implicitly or as the product of direct intention and explicitly. We then demonstrate the empirical relevance of emergent social learning processes that take place in social capital networks during disaster recovery. Using qualitative evidence from semi-structured interviews of members of religious communities recovering from Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, we show that social capital can be site of emergent processes of social learning that enable discovery of new knowledge and transfer of existing knowledge about resource uses, including social capital.
... The grid itself becomes less vulnerable, while the cost of electricity decreases. Moreover, CO2 emissions and other forms of pollution also get reduced (Storr et al., 2017;Azeroual et al., 2020a;Azeroual et al., 2020b;Zhang and Wei, 2020;Albarakati et al., 2021;Boujoudar et al., 2021;Azeroual et al., 2022c;Chekira et al., 2022;Sadaquat et al., 2023). The main goal of the study is to demonstrate the efficiency of multi-paradigm modelling in the development and operation of microgrid systems in the Rockaways. ...
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The Rockaways Peninsula faces issues related to congestion and power outages during times of peak usage. Additionally, it is susceptible to disruptions caused by disasters such as hurricanes and storms. In this paper, we propose a new methodology that employs multi-paradigm modelling and control for the design and implementation of interconnected microgrid systems in the Rockaways. Microgrids are small-scale power networks that incorporate renewable energy technologies for power generation and distribution to enhance the control of energy supply and demand. Multi-paradigm modelling is employed to describe microgrids’ dynamic behavior more accurately by integrating system dynamics, agent-based modelling, as well as discrete event and continuous time simulation. We use agent-based models to describe the behavior of separate microgrid elements and the microgrid as a whole. Discrete event/continuous time simulation is used to analyze real-time operation of electrical parameters, such as voltage, current and frequency. Thus, the design, analysis and performance of microgrids are improved. Also, control strategies are used for the purpose of enabling the microgrids to operate effectively by responding to changes in power supply and demand and minimizing the effects of disturbances. The findings of this study demonstrate the feasibility and resilience benefits of incorporating multi-paradigm modelling and control in the design and management of microgrid systems in the Rockaways, which can result in the development of more durable, efficient, and sustainable energy systems in the region.
... The field of agri-environmental management is becoming more conscious of KE between different groups and individuals to improve knowledge-based practices (Keen et al., 2005;Rist et al., 2007), and to facilitate evidence-based decision making (Lucey et al., 2017). New insights and practices can be incorporated into behavior changes through social learning (Storr et al., 2017;Vogl et al., 2015) and social interactions (Morgan, 2011). To achieve effective two-way agri-environmental knowledge communication, a key step is gaining a better understanding of farmers' and local government knowledge sharing and learning processes to improve farming sustainability (Thomas et al., 2020). ...
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There is a growing global emphasis on sustainable agriculture to reduce human impacts and improve delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With increasing investment in critical zone observatories (CZOs), it becomes important to understand how sustainable agricultural knowledge is produced, shared and used between different groups including farmers, scientists and government. To explore these issues, scientists leading the knowledge exchange (KE) component of a China‐UK CZO program studied three farming regions with contrasting geologies and varying economic levels, using a practice‐based research method. We demonstrate how additional funding for social science research allowed us to understand how farmers access and share farming knowledge through bonding, bridging and linking networks, and how this varies spatially, using interviews and survey questionnaires. Knowledge flows, barriers and opportunities for designing locally suited two‐way KE activities were identified. First, we highlight the need for a more locally, socially embedded and reflexive approach to build trust and better address pressing local environmental challenges. Second, we show how social science can usefully inform KE for collaborative, international development science, to draw on local knowledge, promote research impacts and capacity building while avoiding knowledge mismatches. Lastly, a blueprint for the design and funding of future CZOs, social‐ecological and planetary health research agendas that combine science, social science, local knowledge and KE is presented, including the need for substantive social science research to take place in addition to science research in human‐modified landscapes—enabling the CZ science to be better grounded in, informed by and useful to local communities.
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Many studies highlight human and physical capital’s role in the emergency response and post-disaster recovery phases. Even though social capital also plays a major role in emergency response and disaster recovery. Social capital can reduce disaster risk at the community level, especially for those who live in disaster areas. For this reason, the role of social capital in the emergency response and recovery phase is important, and its utilization must be developed. This study is expected to provide an overview of the role and influence of social capital in emergency response and post-disaster recovery in two different settings, both geographically and in the type of disaster that occurred. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach with a systematic literature review method, data collection was carried out by collecting literature, studies, articles, journals, reports, and previous research related to the role of social capital in post-disaster recovery process. The cases in this study are the eruption in Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland and the earthquake in Gili Trawangan, Indonesia. This review focuses on three forms of social capital, bonding, bridging, and linking, available in disaster-affected communities and how these forms of social capital affect the recovery process of communities affected by disasters. The results show that in both areas, bonding social capital plays the strongest role, but there are differences in the impact of disasters on the condition of social capital in both area.
Book
This Element explores the topics of terrorism, counterterrorism, and the US government's war on terror following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. It draw on insights from Austrian and public choice economics. First, the foundations of the economics of terrorism are discussed emphasizing that the behaviors of terrorists and counter-terrorists are purposeful and goal-oriented. Then, the economics of counterterrorism policies and the importance of institutional change is considered. Next, the three dilemmas facing liberal societies as it relates to counterterrorism efforts is focused on. The Element then provides an assessment of the US government's war on terror. It discusses the origins of the war, discuss whether it can be judged a success or failure, and consider some of the main effects both abroad and within the United States. The final chapter concludes with a discussion of several areas for future research.
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Building community resilience has been widely recognized as a learning process at multiple societal levels, yet few prior studies have examined the feedback loop between community-and policy-level learning. Following a qualitative research approach, we document experiential and transformative forms of learning from coastal cyclones in Bangladesh that help local community and their institutions mitigating the impact of cyclonic shocks and recovering from disaster-related losses, both in the shorter and longer term. This study discovers that such community-level learning (when scaled-up) as well as learning from policy failure significantly enhanced programmatic interventions, which in turn enhanced community resilience to cyclones and future disasters. However, this feedback loop can be attenuated by multiple factors, such as lack of attention to community-level learning by policy/ decision makers in non-disaster settings and the presence of a strong vested interest group, may impede learning-based policy instrumentation. Boundary spanners or organizations can significantly improve the feedback loop, thus enhancing community resilience and improving policy. K E Y W O R D S community resilience, disaster, feedback loop, policy, social learning, transformative learning
Chapter
Elinor Ostrom studied the ways in which communities organize themselves to overcome collective challenges such as management of a common-pool resource or the provision of safety, highlighting co-production between citizens and police. Similarly, Viviana Zelizer has identified “circuits of commerce,” or communities of exchange that arise within the larger economy to solve specific problems confronting the group. Both Ostrom and Zelizer engage case studies and also have considered the general characteristics that allow for communities to engage in social coordination. Post-disaster recovery presents a collective challenge. Although there is great diversity in how communities organize, still, there are, arguably, general characteristics that support social coordination and in turn, bring about recovery. This chapter considers those characteristics drawing on case studies from Hurricane Katrina (New Orleans, LA, 2005) and Superstorm Sandy (New York, NY, 2012).
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This article responds to the points raised by Daniel P. Aldrich, Emily Chamlee-Wright, and Lori Peek in the symposium on our book Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster: Lessons in Local Entrepreneurship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
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Despite the ubiquity of disaster and the increasing toll in human lives and financial costs, much research and policy remain focused on physical infrastructure–centered approaches to such events. Governmental organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, United States Agency for International Development, and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development continue to spend heavily on hardening levees, raising existing homes, and repairing damaged facilities despite evidence that social, not physical, infrastructure drives resilience. This article highlights the critical role of social capital and networks in disaster survival and recovery and lays out recent literature and evidence on the topic. We look at definitions of social capital, measurement and proxies, types of social capital, and mechanisms and application. The article concludes with concrete policy recommendations for disaster managers, government decision makers, and nongovernmental organizations for increasing resilience to catastrophe through strengthening social infrastructure at the community level.
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In this paper, we examine the resiliency of community recovery after a natural disaster. We argue that a resilient recovery requires robust economic/financial institutions, political/legal institutions, and social/cultural institutions. We explore how politically and privately created disaster preconditions and responses have contributed to or undermined institutional robustness in the context of the Gulf Coast's recovery after Hurricane Katrina. We find that where postdisaster resiliency has been observed, private‐sector responses contributing to the health of these institutional arenas are largely responsible. Where postdisaster fragility and slowness has been observed, public‐sector responses contributing to the frailty of these institutional arenas are largely the cause. In other words, we engage in a comparative institutional analysis of civil society, entrepreneurial commercial society, and government agencies and political actors in the wake of a natural disaster.
Book
In August 2005 the nation watched as Hurricane Katrina pummelled the Gulf Coast. Residents did not just suffer the personal costs of a home that had been severely damaged or destroyed; frequently they also lost their entire neighbourhood and the social systems that under normal circumstances made their lives "work". Katrina raised the questions of whether and how communities could solve the complex social coordination problems catastrophic disaster poses, and what inhibits them from doing so? Professor Chamlee-Wright investigates not only the nature of post-disaster recovery, but the nature of the social order itself - how societies are able to achieve a level of complex social coordination that far exceeds our ability to design. By deploying the tools of both political economy and cultural economy, the book contributes to the bourgeoning literature on the social, political and economic impact of Hurricane Katrina. Through a selection of case studies, the author argues that post-disaster resilience depends crucially upon the discovery that unfolds within commercial and civil society. The book will be of particular interest to postgraduate students and researchers in economics, sociology and anthropology as well as disaster specialists.
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Social resources research has linked activated ties to outcomes-but not to the core networks from which the ties came. This study shifts the focus to the question of how networks allocate resources. The activation of core network ties is analyzed in a nonroutine situation-a hurricane-to determine how core network structure affects the degree to which individuals activate core network ties to gain one type of social resource-informal support. Results show that the structures of individuals' core networks affect the degree to which individuals activate ties from those networks to gain informal support. Individuals embedded in higher-density core networks (i.e., alters are connected to one another), core networks with more gender diversity (i.e., a mix of men and women), and networks that contain higher proportions of men, kin, and younger individuals, activated core network ties for informal support to a greater degree than did individuals embedded in core networks lacking these characteristics. The conclusions consider the study's implications for understanding resource activation in the contexts of social support and job searches.