Even though social capital has been studied in various contexts, its effects on communities can still be explored further. Social Capital is sometimes described as shared norms, values, and understandings that facilitate cooperation between individuals. However, these norms can be affected by external shock. This research focuses on the effects of the Gorkha earthquake, which struck Nepal in 2015, generating one of the largest humanitarian crises in recent years. Within the framework of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to measure the formation of social capital in the treated communities, I will try to assess the effects the earthquake had on social capital in two moments, five months, and two years after the earthquake. Working with two data sources: survey data and a set of Lab-in-the-Field behavioral games, I find that effects on usual proxies for social capital are different between periods. Shortly after the earthquake, people living closer than 200Km to the epicenter tended to trust more on others but seemed to trust less in people from their same village. After two years, there is a shift in the general trust trend, and they seem less trusting. In contrast, they experience higher levels of trust toward foreigners and the central government that did not appear in the short term. In terms of interpersonal relations, people living closer to the epicenter visited and got fewer visits from relatives and acquaintances after the earthquake. However, two years later, they tend to have higher interpersonal relationships measured by the number of times they met up with others in the last month.
