EXPLORING THE COMPONENTS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL AND POST- DISASTER COMMUNITY RESILIENCE IN GOLJUNG VDC IN RASUWA DISTRICT, NEPAL

Abstract

Background Nepal ranks 11th on the vulnerability for natural disasters. Thus, disaster preparedness should be a key concern for Nepal to cope with future disasters that are likely to happen. One of the major ways in to build stronger communities so that individuals act in a quick and collective manner to become more resilient.

Objective The study aims to understand the relationship between social capital and community resilience by measuring different components of trust, unity, peace, community and organizational participation, and awareness about external help.

Methods

The cross sectional study was conducted with 75 participants from age 18 to 60; surveys and interviews were conducted with reference to the Integrated Questionnaire on social capital by the World Bank. Convinience sampling was used and data analysis was done through SPSS. Results Majority of the participants (76.7%) said they trust most of the community members. 65% respondents believed the village to be very peaceful. 65% of the respondents believed the villagers were very united among each other. Conclusion Goljung VDC, although showing high levels of trust, peace, and unity, did not prove as resilient as other communities shown by literature.