The Impact of Neighborhood Networks on Life Recovery Feelings After the Great East Japan Earthquake: A Fixed-Effects Model Using Longitudinal Survey Data with Multiple Imputation

More than 14 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, aiding each survivor to reconstruct their lives and recover both physically and mentally still remains a social and political issue. Among the multidimensional elements of post-disaster rebuilding, life recovery feelings are crucial, as they deeply reflect the recovery of victims’ subjective worlds in comparison to their pre-disaster lives. While previous studies have identified neighborhood networks as a key factor shaping these feelings, few have empirically unpacked identifiable mechanisms of how neighborhood networks enhance life recovery feelings. Therefore, this study investigates the effects of neighborhood networks on survivors’ life recovery feelings following the Great East Japan Earthquake from the following perspectives: (a) to formalize the identifiable mechanisms of forming and increasing information and material exchange networks to facilitate life recovery feelings, (b) to use longitudinal survey data that adequately capture post-disaster changes, (c) to correct selection bias via a multiple imputation technique, and (d) to control for time-varying factors and time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity using fixed-effects models. The statistical results reveal that the formation of information exchange networks with neighbors after the disaster enhanced victims’ life recovery feelings, which suggests the importance of ending victims’ social isolation from their communities in disaster recovery processes.