“Saber Que No Estaba Sola; Knowing I Was Not Alone”: A Community’s Organizing Through Technology for Resilience

Socially and financially disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected by increasingly frequent and cascading disasters, leaving them limited time to prepare, respond, and learn. Existing theory about resilience in disaster situations rarely integrates cultural considerations and the role of technology into resilience practices. To address these gaps, this study employed an anticipatory resilience framework to analyze 22 in-depth interviews, with community members involved in designing and implementing a community-owned disaster data portal. Following research methods respecting the participants’ language and culture, our grounded theory analysis revealed three core categories used to develop a new theory of resilience. Culturally anchored digital resilience theory claims that culture shapes the sensemaking, adoption, and knowledge production processes in resilient practices, challenging dominant narratives that exclude those most affected by disasters. The findings show how cultural context and communication can support technology-infused resilience initiatives and provide guidance for developing culturally sustained resilience tools.