An adaptation and validation of the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC): A case study of South Korea

Abstract

Community resilience plays a critical role in mitigating disaster impacts and facilitating recovery. This study constructs a resilience index for South Korea, adapted from Cutter's BRIC framework, with modifications to better reflect local contexts. We validated the index using natural hazard losses and external cause mortality, with particular emphasis on the latter as an objective measure of resilience. The results showed that higher resilience scores were associated with reduced damage and mortality, underscoring the index's effectiveness. However, institutional resilience and community capital unexpectedly correlated positively with damage and mortality, although this effect diminished in further regression models that controlled for rural status. These findings highlight disparities between metropolitan and rural areas. Spatial analysis supported this finding, with metropolitan areas like Seoul and Busan exhibiting higher resilience compared to rural regions. By emphasizing the feasibility and utility of external cause mortality as a validation metric, this study contributes to the development of a robust tool for assessing resilience and guiding targeted policy interventions to strengthen community resilience.