Resilience against crises: COVID-19 and lessons from natural disasters

Abstract

Pandemics and natural disasters – what do they have in common? Both disrupt social and organisational practices. Both call for resilience in society. Information systems can foster and enhance the resilience of people, communities and organisations by strengthening their ability to adapt to uncertainty, enabling a transition towards an appropriate restoration of order in society. COVID-19 has caused significant disturbances at all societal levels. The impacts range from national lockdowns to social distancing and self-isolation. Everyday practices and business processes are severed or have been halted. Resilience is needed. But how can we foster resilience in the face of a pandemic? What lessons can we learn from other crises like natural disasters? The purpose of this brief communication is to identify important insights from a study of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and illustrate how they are relevant to the current crisis. We identify the role of information systems in fostering resilience against crisis, and suggest some recommendations regarding transformation for resilience more generally.

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