Apego al Lugar en Áreas Post-Desastre: el Caso de la Reocupación de la Ciudad de Chaitén, Chile

Abstract

This study investigates the place attachment of the inhabitants of the city of Chaiten in Chile, a community affected by volcano eruption during 2008 that destroyed a large part of the locality. It is asked about the associations of place attachment with the direct experience of disaster and interpersonal trust. To answer the research question, we designed a survey that had instruments to measure place attachment, residence, and interpersonal trust. For the latter, the instrument measured trust in old and new inhabitants. The survey was applied during 2015 to 188 members of the population of Chaiten, who were selected from a two stage stratified sample by sector (north and south of Chaiten). Based on analysis of the data with linear regression models, the results indicate that the direct experience of the disaster increases place attachment and slightly moderates the association between it and interpersonal trust in the community. Trusting in old inhabitants’ increases place attachment only for the individuals that did not experiment the eruption. We did not find an association between trust in new inhabitants and place attachment. The research contributes to the knowledge of place attachment by suggesting that a disaster has positive long-term consequences on attachment, while proposing the need to qualify the recognized positive association between social bonds and this concept. Greater knowledge about place attachment in disaster contexts can favor reconstruction and mitigation process against new threats.