Conclusion

Abstract

Putnam (1995), in his classic study, Bowling Alone in America, argued that the major institution that builds social capital and trust among community members is affiliation with their local churches or congregation. This observation resonates very well with the vibrant Philippine civic engagements of members in a Basic Ecclesial Community. Citizen’s social capital and trust networks have been proven to be crucial in post-disaster recovery. In Chile, Fuster et al. (2015) demonstrated that local communities with strong social capital and trust networks, who have insider knowledge of the tectonic plates and movement of the place, can organize themselves better to protect themselves and attend to their immediate needs but this was later disregarded by external government agencies, during post reconstruction work. Women organized themselves, and were trusted to open food and medical reserves in the school, by the mayor, who trusted them to distribute it to families most in need. Yet, after the earthquake, the Chilean post-disaster agencies and decision-makers ignored this internal capacity and power of women and men, and their social networks that they could have organized, so the government suffered challenges.