Oregon Resilience Hubs and Networks

Abstract

In this document, we describe the application of social network analysis and planning approaches drawn from military and United Nations doctrine to identify and develop community resilience hubs and networks to assist and sustain victims of disaster or crises in the harsh and remote Oregon areas until additional aid is provided. After assessing geographic conditions and infrastructure to identify “islands” of communities likely to be inaccessible after a disaster, planners used social network analysis and community resilience development grants provided by the Oregon Legislature to model mutually supporting resilience hubs and networks in preparation for disasters or crises. Resulting models may now be used to create pre-disaster direct relational ties to make networks more robust and responsive to crises in Oregon. This approach may be useful for emergency managers to increase resilience in remote and vulnerable communities in harsh terrain.