Policy-Supported Social Capital in Postdisaster Recovery: Some Positive Evidence

The impacts of disasters on women, particularly on the number of jobs lost, is difficult to quantify and understand. N. Ernel Ganapati, in her article "In Good Company: Why Social Capital Matters for Women during Disaster Recovery," explores such veiled aspects of women's social capital by observing the case of the city of Golcuk, Turkey, and offers lessons on their opportunities. In this commentary, the author offers Japan's efforts and partial outcomes of public policies in support of Ganapati's endings and recommendations, as recurring natural disasters have taught Japanese administrators the significance of protecting social capital in postdisaster policies. The need for policies that are aligned with social capital became apparent in the aftermath of the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan. Since then, community-based responses have become mainstream in major recovery efforts in Japan, such as the Chuetsu earthquake, the Now peninsula earthquake, and the recent great East Japan (Tohoku) earthquake and tsunami (2011), to name a few.