Exploring social contracts of disaster risk through twitter narratives during a major storm

• The losses associated with disaster events undermine social contracts - which are the mutual expectations, rights, and responsibilities of the government and the public related to disaster risk management - heightening dissatisfaction with government risk management and disaster response. • A social contracts approach was operationalized through analysis of twitter data of a major hurricane indicating that perceptions and expectations of people shape the relationship between social contracts and the acceptance of new forms of disaster risk reduction, including non-conventional infrastructure, such as Nature-Based Solutions. • It is important to recognize new forms of risk adaptation infrastructure that better addresses equity and adaptation to climate change, both of which are prevalent challenges that we found in the current social contracts. Social contracts are evolving relationships between the government and the public; they describe the rights and responsibilities of each party in catastrophic hydroclimatic events. As the climate crisis unfolds disaster losses continue to increase and the need for new infrastructure is becoming more apparent. Research suggests that incorporating Nature-based Solutions (NbS) into infrastructure adaptations may reduce exposure and loss and improve social well-being. While researchers and policy makers push for NbS, it is unclear whether they adequately recognize contemporary social contracts and whether these contracts are shifting sufficiently to accept the differences. We operationalize social contracts and test a conceptual approach through analysis of tweets before, during and after Hurricane Ida. Our results indicate a social contract of inequalities manifested through experience, perceptions and expectations of citizens. There is a great deal of uncertainty and feelings of insecurity about the public's perception of government response and resource provisions. Although our results indicated a gap in public perception of NbS, uncertainty about the effectiveness of conventional infrastructure was expressed. Public expectations include an evolving social contract that addresses the challenges related to inequalities while also adapting to climate change. We discuss how this twitter data can be used to understand the role of social contracts in responding to disaster risk and infrastructure adaptation and how inadequacies in current protection measures can inform potential use of NbS.