Paper:
The Evolution of the “Disaster Resilience” Concept and its Implications for Disaster Risk Reduction
Shingo Nagamatsu*,**,

*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
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
- [1] S. B. Manyena, “The concept of resilience revisited,” Disasters, Vol.30, No.4, pp. 434-450, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0361-3666.2006.00331.x
- [2] G. Büyüközkan, Ö. Ilıcak, and O. Feyzioğlu, “A review of urban resilience literature,” Sustainable Cities and Society, Vol.77, Article No.103579, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2021.103579
- [3] B. Manyena, F. Machingura, and P. O’Keefe, “Disaster Resilience Integrated Framework for Transformation (DRIFT): A new approach to theorising and operationalising resilience,” World Development, Vol.123, Article No.104587, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.06.011
- [4] B. Gu and J. Liu, “A systematic review of resilience in the maritime transport,” Int. J. of Logistics Research and Applications, Vol.28, No.3, pp. 257-278, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1080/13675567.2023.2165051
- [5] D. E. Alexander, “Resilience and disaster risk reduction: An etymological journey,” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol.13, No.11, pp. 2707-2716, 2013. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-2707-2013
- [6] C. S. Holling, “The resilience of terrestrial ecosystems: Local surprise and global change,” W. C. Clark and R. E. Munn (Eds.), “Sustainable Development of the Biosphere,” pp. 292-317, Cambridge University Press, 1986.
- [7] W. N. Adger, “Social and ecological resilience: Are they related?,” Progress in Human Geography, Vol.24, No.3, pp. 347-364, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1191/030913200701540465
- [8] P. Timmerman, “Vulnerability, resilience and the collapse of society,” Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Tronto, 1981.
- [9] K. J. Tierney, “Social aspects of the Northridge earthquake,” Preliminary Paper No.225, Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, 1995.
- [10] M. Bruneau et al., “A framework to quantitatively assess and enhance the seismic resilience of communities,” Earthquake spectra, Vol.19, No.4, pp. 733-752, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1193/1.1623497
- [11] M. J. VanLandingham, “Weathering Katrina: Culture and recovery among Vietnamese Americans,” Russell Sage Foundation, 2017.
- [12] S. Uekusa, “Chatper 7: Social vulnerability in disasters: Immigrant and refugee experiences in Canterbury and Tohoku,” W. L. Waugh, Jr. and Z. Han (Eds.), “Recovering from Catastrophic Disaster in Asia,” Emerald Publishing Ltd., 2017. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-726220160000018006
- [13] S. L. Cutter, “Resilience to what? Resilience for whom?,” The Geographical J., Vol.182, No.2, pp. 110-113, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12174
- [14] J. B. Houston, “Bouncing forward: assessing advances in community resilience assessment, intervention, and theory to guide future work,” American Behavioral Scientist, Vol.59, No.2, pp. 175-180, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764214550294
- [15] C. Béné, A. Newsham, M. Davies, M. Ulrichs, and R. Godfrey-Wood, “Review article: Resilience, poverty and development,” J. of Int. Development, Vol.26, No.5, pp. 598-623, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.2992
- [16] Y. Shiozaki, S. Nagamatsu, K. Sato, and Y. Bhattacharya, “A systematic literature review of empirical validation of disaster resilience indicators,” Int. J. of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol.111, Article No.104681, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104681
- [17] C. Béné, R. G. Wood, A. Newsham, and M. Davies, “Resilience: New utopia or new tyranny? Reflection about the potentials and limits of the concept of resilience in relation to vulnerability reduction programmes,” IDS Working Papers, Vol.2012, No.405, pp. 1-61, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2040-0209.2012.00405.x
- [18] A. Asadzadeh, T. Kötter, P. Salehi, and J. Birkmann, “Operationalizing a concept: The systematic review of composite indicator building for measuring community disaster resilience,” Int. J. of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol.25, pp. 147-162, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.09.015
- [19] C. Zuzak et al., “The national risk index: Establishing a nationwide baseline for natural hazard risk in the US,” Natural Hazards, Vol.114, No.2, pp. 2331-2355, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05474-w
- [20] B. Patch, “The new Australian Disaster Resilience Index: A tool for building safer, adaptable communities,” Australian J. of Emergency Management, Vol.35, No.3, pp. 15-17, 2020.
- [21] A. Sharifi, “A critical review of selected tools for assessing community resilience,” Ecological Indicators, Vol.69, pp. 629-647, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.05.023
- [22] A. Asadzadeh, A. R. Khavarian-Garmsir, A. Sharifi, P. Salehi, and T. Kötter, “Transformative resilience: An overview of its structure, evolution, and trends,” Sustainability, Vol.14, No.22, Article No.15267, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215267
- [23] B. C. Chaffin et al., “Transformative environmental governance,” Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Vol.41, pp. 399-423, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-110615-085817
- [24] A. Fekete et al., “Adjustment or transformation? Disaster risk intervention examples from Austria, Indonesia, Kiribati and South Africa,” Land Use Policy, Vol.120, Article No.106230, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106230
- [25] Y. Isoda, S. Masuda, and S. Nishiyama, “Effects of post-disaster aid measures to firms: Evidence from Tohoku University Earthquake Recovery Firm Survey 2012–2015,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.14, No.8, pp. 1030-1046, 2019. https://doi.org/10.20965/jdr.2019.p1030
- [26] E. Yamazaki, “Legislation to support to disaster victims in Japan,” Y. Kaneko, K. Matsuoka, and T. Toyoda (Eds.), “Asian Law in Disasters: Toward a Human-Centered Recovery,” pp. 163-177, Routledge 2016.
- [27] S. Nagamatsu and D. Parikh, “Economic recovery after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake: Market dynamism and public policy,” 1st Int. Conf. on Urban Disaster Reduction. 2005.
- [28] Y. Ge, Y. Gu, and W. Deng, “Evaluating China’s national post-disaster plans: The 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake’s recovery and reconstruction planning,” Int. J. of Disaster Risk Science, Vol.1, No.2, pp. 17-27, 2010. https://doi.org/10.3974/j.issn.2095-0055.2010.02.003
- [29] M.-Y. Koh et al., “The impact of COVID-19 on values and religiosity in a multi-ethnic population,” Asia-Pacific J. of Public Health, Vol.35, No.8, pp. 524-528, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1177/10105395231207238
- [30] E. F. Murphy Jr. et al., “9/11 impact on teenage values,” J. of Business Ethics, Vol.69, No.4, pp. 399-421, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9098-1
- [31] Y. Usuda, M. Hanashima, R. Sato, and H. Sano, “Effects and issues of information sharing system for disaster response,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.12, No.5, pp. 1002-1014, 2017. https://doi.org/10.20965/jdr.2017.p1002
- [32] A. Arnall, “A climate of control: Flooding, displacement and planned resettlement in the Lower Zambezi River valley, Mozambique,” The Geographical J., Vol.180, No.2, pp. 141-150, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12036
- [33] B. Domingos and S. Nagamatsu, “Why are community-based early warning systems inadequate? A case study of the Licungo River Basin, in Mozambique,” IDRiM J., Vol.14, No.2, pp. 95-126, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5595/001c.123357
- [34] G. A. Bonanno, “Loss, trauma, and human resilience: Have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events?,” American Psychologist, Vol.59, No.1, pp. 20-28, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.20
- [35] K. M. Connor and J. R. T. Davidson, “Development of a new resilience scale: The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC),” Depression and Anxiety, Vol.18, No.2, pp. 76-82, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.10113
- [36] J. M. First, M. Yu, and J. B. Houston, “The disaster adaptation and resilience scale: Development and validation of an individual-level protection measure,” Disasters, Vol.45, No.4, pp. 939-967, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12452
- [37] S. Kimhi, “Levels of resilience: Associations among individual, community, and national resilience,” J. of Health Psychology, Vol.21, No.2, pp. 164-170, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105314524009
- [38] A. Matsukawa, S. Nagamatsu, R. Ohtsuka, and H. Hayashi, “Disaster resilience scale for individuals: A fundamental requirement for a disaster-resilient society,” Int. J. of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol.107, Article No.104405, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2024.104405
- [39] S. Nagamatsu, “20 years after the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake disaster: Need for a New Disaster Management Strategy emphasisig the role of community-help principle,” SYNODOS J., 2015 (in Japanese). https://synodos.jp/fukkou/12375 [Accessed September 24, 2025]
- [40] C. Tshiswaka-Tshilumba and S. Nagamatsu, “How does community disaster resilience affect individual resilience? An empirical analysis of Japanese prefectures,” J. of Societal Safety Sciences, No.15, pp. 71-88, 2024.
- [41] A. Arnall, “Resilience as transformative capacity: Exploring the quadripartite cycle of structuration in a Mozambican resettlement programme,” Geoforum, Vol.66, pp. 26-36, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.08.015
- [42] S. Meerow, P. Pajouhesh, and T. R. Miller, “Social equity in urban resilience planning,” Local Environment, Vol.24, No.9, pp. 793-808, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2019.1645103
- [43] V. Smirnova, J. L. Lawrence, and J. Bohland, “The critical turn of resilience: Mapping thematic communities and modes of critical scholarship,” The Geographical J., Vol.187, No.1, pp. 16-27, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12370
- [44] S. Westerhof, M. Taanman, J. van Popering-Verkerk, and M. Duijn, “Why inequality matters to resilience: Just resilience in the delta,” GovernEUR, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2023.
- [45] C. Tshiswaka-Tshilumba and S. Nagamatsu, “Understanding the compound risk context of Goma City through the pressure and release model,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.19, No.4, pp. 656-665, 2024. https://doi.org/10.20965/jdr.2024.p0656
- [46] S. Nagamatsu, “Building back a better Tohoku after the March 2011 tsunami: Contradicting evidence,” V. Santiago-Fandiño, S. Sato, N. Maki, and K. Iuchi (Eds.), “The 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: Reconstruction and Restoration: Insights and Assessment After 5 Years,” pp. 37-54, Springer, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58691-5_3
- [47] A. Rose, S. Nagamatsu, and B. Djavadi, “Toward a theory of population return from disasters: A synthesis and extension of research advances,” Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Vol.9, No.2, pp. 209-233, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41885-025-00175-7
- [48] E. Chamlee-Wright and V. H. Storr, “Club goods and post-disaster community return,” Rationality and Society, Vol.21, No.4, pp. 429-458, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043463109337097
- [49] J.-J. Lin and W.-I. Lin, “Cultural issues in post-disaster reconstruction: The case of Typhoon Morakot in Taiwan,” Disasters, Vol.40, No.4, pp. 668-692, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12172
- [50] S. Nagamatsu, “The conceptual evolution of ‘disaster resilience’: Implication for disaster risk reduction policy,” Report of the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience, Vol.89, 2025 (in Japanese). https://doi.org/10.24732/NIED.00006987
This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.