Assessing Disaster Management Effects on Recovery Outcomes in Rural Post-Disaster Japan

Fri, April 22, 2022 1:00 PM - Fri, April 22, 2022 3:00 PM at Berkey 457 and Zoom

MSU Sociology PhD candidate Kayleigh Ward will defend her dissertation titled "Assessing Disaster Management Effects on Recovery Outcomes in Rural Post-Disaster Japan." This event will be held in person with a Zoom option. 

Kayleigh is a Doctoral Candidate in Sociology and Environmental Science and Policy. Her research interests focus mainly on community development and sustainability in post-disaster communities, especially in Miyagi, Japan after the 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake. She focuses on the intersection of disaster and environmental, social, and economic problems. She has several years of experience with NGOs in Japan and in the US. She currently collaborates with NGOs in the following areas: community sustainability and redevelopment, economic empowerment, and community organizing. Her dissertation research titled “Reviving community: building social recovery in rural post-disaster Japan,” focuses on how post-disaster, recovery difficulties in rural communities are a result of both social and economic woes. Her research questions are 1) How is resident social capital impacted by government focus on economic community redevelopment? And 2) How do declines in social capital affect resident’s, farmer’s, and fishermen’s ability to handle rural problems of unemployment, depopulation, out-migration, aging, and industry stagnation? By inquiring about social capital, she uncovers the processes that lead to better or worse community recovery patterns which provide a window into how social development currently operates in rural post-disaster communities.