Many Americans will pause on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks to remember the nearly 3,000 people who were killed that day. The attacks became a shared national tragedy, the impact of which reached far beyond those who experienced them firsthand.

The aftermath of such a disaster can place enormous strain on a community. If disruption is prolonged, support is inadequate and the economic and social structures that hold a community together are damaged. Relationships can fracture, trust can erode, and conflict can emerge. Disaster researchers describe this pattern as a “corrosive community.”

As a social work researcher who has studied disaster recovery and worked alongside disaster-affected communities for more than two decades, I have witnessed another side of the human response to catastrophe: Amid tremendous hardship and loss, people reach for connection and find strength in community.

What happens after a disaster

A national survey conducted just after 9/11 found that about half of Americans had responded to the crisis by giving to charity, and nearly a quarter donated or tried to donate blood. Volunteer sign-ups surged.

The research I conducted with colleagues on marriage and divorce following 9/11 offered another window into the disaster’s effects. We examined divorce rates across all 62 New York counties, comparing the four years after the attacks with the decade before them. Divorce rates were significantly lower than expected in three of those four years. Even by 2005, the statewide divorce rate remained about 8% below what the previous decade’s trend would have........

© The Conversation