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JDR Vol.20 No.5 pp. 737-745
(2025)
doi: 10.20965/jdr.2025.p0737

Paper:

The Evolution of the “Disaster Resilience” Concept and its Implications for Disaster Risk Reduction

Shingo Nagamatsu*,**,† ORCID Icon

*Faculty of Societal Safety Sciences, Kansai University
7-1 Hakubaicho, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-1098, Japan

**National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience
Tsukuba, Japan

Corresponding author

Received:
June 1, 2025
Accepted:
September 3, 2025
Published:
October 1, 2025
Keywords:
resilience, transformation, equity, disaster risk reduction, dignity
Abstract

This study reviews the evolution of the “disaster resilience” concept and attempts to draw implications for disaster risk reduction from it. First, the concept of disaster resilience was influenced by ecology and brought into disaster management research as a concept of system stability. The irreversible damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. has led to disaster resilience being considered not as the ability of a society to “bounce back,” but as the ability of a society to adapt to or transform toward a desirable future. However, the inclusion of transformative capacity in the resilience concept raises several issues in disaster risk reduction practice. Finally, it creates three conflicts: between transformative and maintaining capacity, between the subjects of resilience, and sometimes between transformative capacity and societal values such as justice and equality. This study suggests three conditions that justify transformation under the name of resilience: (1) sustainability, (2) welfare, and (3) dignity.

A conceptual model for disaster resilience

A conceptual model for disaster resilience

Cite this article as:
S. Nagamatsu, “The Evolution of the “Disaster Resilience” Concept and its Implications for Disaster Risk Reduction,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.20 No.5, pp. 737-745, 2025.
Data files:
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Last updated on Sep. 30, 2025