Disaster Vulnerability and Community Resilience Factors Affecting Post-Disaster Wellness

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Abstract
This study examined general wellness, a broad concept that encompasses physical and mental illness, adjustment, and quality of life, and analyzed how vulnerability, hazards, and community resilience affect disaster survivors’ wellness. This extends beyond the previous studies that mainly focused on single indicators related to the mental health of disaster victims or examined community resilience factors in a limited way. The Korean Long-term Survey on the Change of Life of Disaster Victim data were used for random-effect analysis to investigate socio-political factors affecting the wellness of disaster survivors based on the disaster vulnerability plus theory. Results show that in the South Korean context where disaster response is centered on the central government, various community resilience factors have significant associations with the wellness of disaster survivors. High levels of social support and satisfaction with support policies were protective factors. Victims who experienced disasters in non-capital areas showed better wellness than in the capital area. Conflict experiences exacerbated survivors’ wellness. Finally, sense of community after disasters had a mixed effect in various domains of wellness and the level of satisfaction with government agencies’ disaster response had no significant effect. In conclusion, community resilience has a great influence on disaster survivors' wellness because disasters create crises in terms of community capacity and individual wellness due to limited resources, conflicts regarding distribution of resources and compensation, severance of existing relationships, and the creation of new relationships. Improving community resilience may be crucial in ameliorating and resolving inequalities in the negative impact of disasters.

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