57 58 59 60 4 6 30 35 Page 1 of 24 Urban Studies 1 2 3 Tacit networks, crucial care: informal networks and disaster response in Nepal’s 5 2015 Gorkha earthquake. 7 Carrero, R., Acuto, M., Tzachor, A., Subedi, N., Campbell, B., To, L.S. 8 9 10 11 Abstract 12 13 14 15 16 It is often reiterated that a better understanding of local networks and needs is key to risk reduction. 17 18 Nevertheless, the crucial role of informal social networks and actors in the catering for human needs in 19 disaster circumstances remains largely under-explored. If we have to rethink the “work” that informality 20 21 does for our understanding of urban areas (McFarlane, 2010), its contribution to resilience (Pelling, 2003), 22 23 and take it seriously in the ‘full spectrum of risk’ in urban and peri-urban centers (Satterthwaite and 24 Bartlett, 2017), better and more balanced methods and are needed. This paper attends to this gap. 25 26 Examining the mechanisms of aid provision in the aftermath of 2015 Gorkha Earthquake in Nepal, it details 27 28 an experimental set of quantitative research methods to explore the role of informal social networks in 29 the provision of critical human needs in natural disasters. Relying on a sample of 160 households across 4 31 districts and 16 villages in the built environment affected by the Gorkha earthquake, the paper reveals 32 33 that, overall, a wide disparity exists in the comparative importance of organizations in the provision of aid 34 and resources. Much crucial after-disaster care is catered for a mix of relatives, temples, friends, neighbors 36 and local clubs. It highlights the importance of informal networks in understanding, and theorizing, 37 38 governance (of disaster and of the ‘urban’ more in general), and calls for greater attention to its role. It is 39 40 time, it argues, to revalue informal disaster governance networks as a crucial, not tacit, component of 41 disaster response. 42 43 44 45 46 47 Keywords: Community, disasters, governance, informality, method, networks, urban informality 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56