The role of communities in coping with natural disasters: Lessons from the 2010 Chile Earthquake and Tsunami

This paper examines the impact of the 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami on community resilience, and the crucial role that communities had to play in coping with this event. The results of a primary research conducted in Talcahuano, one of the worst affected cities by the disaster (through methods of semi-structured interviews, observation, documentary review and social media) show that communities have the power to activate internal resilience capacities to cope with and recover from natural disasters. For instance, the role of social networks, organisation, cooperation, trust, local knowledge, and participation was crucial at all stages of the disaster. The study highlights that communities are not simply passive victims of disasters; rather, they are active agents. The lessons from the 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami can become a useful operational tool for managing efficiently emergency situations in vulnerable communities and planning effective and sustainable disaster risk reduction policies in developing countries. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.