3 Entry into Resilience: A Way to Cope with the Extreme
Situation
The concept of resilience is only relevant following damage, loss, an accident,
trauma, etc. Pre-event is the domain of prevention, prudence, or even precaution.
To be able to discuss resilience, you first have to survive. Even this is not enough,
as, while it can be a sustainable situation, survival is fragile. The concept has
positive connotations. Resilience is an asset, it represents progress; being or
becoming resilient does not mean returning to the nominal, pre-shock state. This is
anyway impossible because the system, whatever form it takes, remembers the
event (albeit for a limited period of time).
Although the concept is in fashion, there is no universal definition that can be
applied to all domains. That said, the English term ‘resilience’, itself derived from
the Latin verb resilire (to bounce), is made up of re (again) and salire (rise), which
implies a retroactive effect [27]. While in the 1970s the term was associated with
the ability to absorb and overcome the effects of significant, unexpected and brutal
disruption to ecological systems [28], hybrid definitions have since emerged in
many disciplines including geography [29], psychology [25], sociology [30],
organizational sciences [31], ergo-psychology [32], etc. Within this smorgasbord of
definitions, two fundamental ideas prevail: community,
2 and the process.
3
In the absence of a consensus, resilience can be defined as the capacity of a
system to absorb disturbances and reorganize itself during ongoing changes [33]. It
is probably more relevant, especially in the case of an accident as serious as that at
Fukushima Daiichi, to place less emphasis on states of equilibrium as “frontiers as a
function of the domain of attraction” because paradoxically, highly fluctuating
instability can also foster entry into resilience [28]. In practice, a system can be very
resilient, yet fluctuate significantly and therefore be fairly unstable. This approach
seems more relevant in the case of Fukushima Daiichi where, given the enormity of
the shock, it was more important to preserve relationships in the socio-technical
system than to return to the previous equilibrium as quickly as possible, which in
fact proved to be an unrealistic expectation [34].
Contemporary views of nuclear safety see the concept of resilience as a
post-crisis process, part of a community dynamic that stresses organizational
adaptability [35]. It has a predictive dimension that helps the organization to
overcome adversity and get back on track [27]. However, this predictive dimension,
and a fortiori entry into resilience, must not neglect the role of probability,
uncertainty [13] or even a “surprise” dimension in the success (or failure) of its
implementation [36]. Here again, there is a reference to a conscious capacity to
“navigate” and “negotiate” [37] in order to cope with an extreme situation.
2
In ecology, a community is a group of organisms belonging to populations of different species
making up a network of relationships.
3
A process is a system of activities that uses resources to transform inputs into outputs.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident: Entering …
5
Situation
The concept of resilience is only relevant following damage, loss, an accident,
trauma, etc. Pre-event is the domain of prevention, prudence, or even precaution.
To be able to discuss resilience, you first have to survive. Even this is not enough,
as, while it can be a sustainable situation, survival is fragile. The concept has
positive connotations. Resilience is an asset, it represents progress; being or
becoming resilient does not mean returning to the nominal, pre-shock state. This is
anyway impossible because the system, whatever form it takes, remembers the
event (albeit for a limited period of time).
Although the concept is in fashion, there is no universal definition that can be
applied to all domains. That said, the English term ‘resilience’, itself derived from
the Latin verb resilire (to bounce), is made up of re (again) and salire (rise), which
implies a retroactive effect [27]. While in the 1970s the term was associated with
the ability to absorb and overcome the effects of significant, unexpected and brutal
disruption to ecological systems [28], hybrid definitions have since emerged in
many disciplines including geography [29], psychology [25], sociology [30],
organizational sciences [31], ergo-psychology [32], etc. Within this smorgasbord of
definitions, two fundamental ideas prevail: community,
2 and the process.
3
In the absence of a consensus, resilience can be defined as the capacity of a
system to absorb disturbances and reorganize itself during ongoing changes [33]. It
is probably more relevant, especially in the case of an accident as serious as that at
Fukushima Daiichi, to place less emphasis on states of equilibrium as “frontiers as a
function of the domain of attraction” because paradoxically, highly fluctuating
instability can also foster entry into resilience [28]. In practice, a system can be very
resilient, yet fluctuate significantly and therefore be fairly unstable. This approach
seems more relevant in the case of Fukushima Daiichi where, given the enormity of
the shock, it was more important to preserve relationships in the socio-technical
system than to return to the previous equilibrium as quickly as possible, which in
fact proved to be an unrealistic expectation [34].
Contemporary views of nuclear safety see the concept of resilience as a
post-crisis process, part of a community dynamic that stresses organizational
adaptability [35]. It has a predictive dimension that helps the organization to
overcome adversity and get back on track [27]. However, this predictive dimension,
and a fortiori entry into resilience, must not neglect the role of probability,
uncertainty [13] or even a “surprise” dimension in the success (or failure) of its
implementation [36]. Here again, there is a reference to a conscious capacity to
“navigate” and “negotiate” [37] in order to cope with an extreme situation.
2
In ecology, a community is a group of organisms belonging to populations of different species
making up a network of relationships.
3
A process is a system of activities that uses resources to transform inputs into outputs.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Accident: Entering …
5