Conclusion: Community resilience in natural disasters

Looking back on the experience, the story was the modern age’s typical natural disaster. The causes were part natural (the disaster) and part human (poor infrastructure and planning) in the large city. When the disaster struck, it was the poor people living in the most vulnerable low-lying areas who were most likely to lose everything and least likely to have the resources to escape. When people responded, it was as groups of families trying to save themselves, then groups of volunteers with transport who went out to rescue strangers. But the government, army, and outside agencies took actions to impose control, not resilience, in the local population— they restricted movement, created relief camps, and then left people waiting and dependent.