Social Resilience Indicators for Pandemic Crises

Coping and recovery capabilities in natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes, floods) depend to a large part on social resilience. Prior disaster studies, which frequently examine natural disasters, suggest a variety of indicators to assess the social resilience of a region or country. In this paper, we discuss whether the most common disaster-related social resilience indicators like social cohesion and support can meaningfully capture social resilience in pandemics. Pandemic crises typically comprise physical distancing and other social restrictions. Hence, social cohesion and support must take other forms than is known from natural disasters. Based on a review of frequently used social resilience measures, we propose pandemic-tailored indicators of social capital, social mechanisms, social equity and cultural or religious beliefs as well as an overall social resilience indicator (SRI) that can help to assess social resilience during pandemic crises. Applying the suggested set of indicators to a sample of 1,500 residents surveyed in Switzerland during the summer 2020 phase of the COVID-19 crisis reveals low levels of social support and community engagement. On the other hand, the willingness to help others seems to be high. The study concludes with recommendations on how to strengthen social resilience in pandemic crises.