The Impact of Social Perceptions on Urban Resilience: An Analysis in the Context of Disaster Mythology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24925/turjaf.v14i5.1457-1465.8592Keywords:
Disaster, Myhthology, resilience, vulnerability, Coping capacityAbstract
When disasters occur, socio-economic and environmental problems emerge that societies cannot overcome on their own. Confronting these adverse outcomes requires collective effort and solidarity. However, social vulnerability and susceptibility increase the level of disaster impacts, thereby reducing the effectiveness of these efforts. Vulnerability sometimes arises from the physical characteristics of the environment in which people live, and at other times from individuals’ socio-economic conditions. Knowledge about disasters, myths transmitted from the past, and the beliefs and biases that have been nourished by these myths influence disaster-related strategies and urban resilience. In the past, when the exact causes of disasters could not be fully identified or understood, their occurrence was often attributed to supernatural forces, which reinforced the development of disaster myths. Even in modern times, such perceptions and beliefs persist. One of the methods for building disaster-resilient cities is to identify and refute these misconceptions. In this study, issues such as urban resilience, disaster mythology, and the nature of disasters are addressed to raise social awareness against disaster myths, and several widely accepted misconceptions are discussed.
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