Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience

Social resilience is the capacity of social groups and communities to recover from, or respond positively to, crises. In this paper, we review the multifaceted nature of social resilience, and how this capacity is thought to have various properties, notably resistance, recovery and creativity. We also discuss the idea that social groups within a community differ insofar as their levels of resilience and the threats to which they are resilient. While research in the social sciences suggests that social resilience is a ‘naturally emergent’ response to disaster, we argue that emergency management plans must recognise and build on this capacity, and that improved indicators of social resilience are a priority area for future research.

Publishers details for: World Disasters Report 1995 International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, Switzerland.

The need for an independent and comprehensive risk assessment system for all natural disasters in Australia was recognised by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). The Australian/ New Zealand Standard for Risk Management provides a framework for this consistent and comprehensive approach, but this system needs to be applied to each type of disaster taking into account the unique facets of each. The Bushfire Risk Management Model being developed by the Bushfire CRC is one application of this framework. This model goes further than previous models and developed internationally because it directly relates the impact of various management strategies to changes in fire characteristics across the landscape, using PHOENIX, and then to the nature of the impact on various values and assets in the landscape. This model is intended for use by fire agencies, land managers, town and land planners, and policy makers. Language: en

Different perspectives on how resilience and vulnerability may be assessed are illustrated because lack of understanding often constrains the effective practice of emergency management. Incorporated into a coherent framework and understanding of vulnerability and resilience will help to integrate it with other disciplines such as community development, social psychology, community economics and environmental management.

Recent research into community resilience, both in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK), indicates that resilience is a multi-dimensional attribute that in its different forms contributes in various but equally important ways to disaster recovery. The author starts with the premise that effective recovery can be achieved only where the affected community participates fully in the recovery process and where it has the capacity, skills and knowledge to make its participation meaningful. Resilience addresses the second of these qualities; in fact it may be defined as the total of the individual elements, but is ineffectual without the means of engagement through participation with the wider social, economic and political communities. The research focuses on four particular areas: 1. The changing risk landscape where new types of risks are emerging that are not amenable to the traditional command and control management model. 2. The changing policy agenda of governments since the attacks of 911 1, in particular the UK's Resilience Agenda. 3. The engagement of local people, whether planned or not, in the recovery process. 4. The limited capacity of emergency services to deal with the protracted and multifarious demands of comprehensive recovery. This research is derived from a variety of sources including direct experience in recovery management and the investigation of community and emergency service responses to different types of disasters. Community resilience is largely neglected in planning and in operations, though in practice community engagement in recovery, a measure of resilience tends to happen spontaneously. In this sense resilience may be inherent or at least developed in situ after a disaster. However, resilience can also be planned for and developed before a disaster strikes. The author indicates that there are a variety of capacity building methods, and especially linkages with other capacity building programmes, that can materially increase community resilience.

In this paper we review data collected from an online, social media-administered survey developed to explore public use of social media during a series of natural disasters, predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, during January to March 2011. These data are then explored using examples taken from the experiences of those involved in administering the most widely-used community-driven Facebook page during these disasters, which focused on tropical cyclone Yasi ('Cyclone Yasi Update'). The survey was completed by 1146 respondents who had used social media in relation to the recent natural disasters. Data indicated that the public relied on a mix of formal and informal information sources, often using social media to re-post or re-tweet links from government websites felt to be of use to communities, thus acting as filters and amplifiers of 'official' information. This paper discusses how social media, specifically their core strengths of timely information exchange and promotion of connectedness, were able to act as sources of psychological first aid in the early stages of disaster and assist in supporting aspects of community resilience.

Risk management standard setting involves risk management study, which includes establishing clear goals, defining project time, locations, and roles and responsibilities of various people in the organisation. A professor of safety engineering narrates his experience and efforts in the preparation of risk management standards.

In countries similar to Australia, relationship violence increases in the wake of disasters. New Zealand police reported a 53 per cent rise in domestic violence after the Canterbury earthquake. In the US, studies documented a four-fold increase following two disasters and an astounding 98 per cent increase in physical victimisation of women after Hurricane Katrina, with authors concluding there was compelling evidence that intimate partner violence increased following large-scale disasters (Schumacher, et al., 2010). Yet there is a research gap on why this happens, and how increased violence may relate to disaster experiences. Women's Health Goulburn North East undertook the first Australian research into this phenomenon, previously overlooked in emergency planning and disaster reconstruction. Interviews with 30 women and 47 workers in Victoria after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires provided evidence of increased domestic violence, even in the absence of sound quantitative data and in a context that silenced women. Community members, police, case managers, trauma psychologists and family violence workers empathised with traumatised and suffering men - men who may have been heroes in the fires - and encouraged women to wait it out. These responses compromise the principle that women and children always have the right to live free from violence.

The findings of the report by the Bureau of Transport Economics, which examined the economic costs of natural disasters in Australia for the 1967 to 1999 period, are presented focusing on the national economic costs. Australian Geological Survey Organization in Queensland and Western Australia has implemented the Cities Project, which provides an excellent tool for analysing the vulnerability of communities to natural disasters and for estimating the future costs of extreme events.

Organisations often find it difficult to demonstrate the value added by emergency management and business continuity programs, and their progress towards becoming 'more resilient'. This is partly because these programs are compared to profit-driven activities for which there are metrics for evaluating whether or not they have produced financial growth. Resilience however, focuses on social and cultural factors within organisations which contribute to the organisations' ability to survive, and potentially even thrive, in times of crisis. The effectiveness and value of programs to build resilience are much more difficult to measure. This paper presents the initial results of a web-based survey tool developed to address this gap and measure and compare organisational resilience. The tool enables organisations to identify resilience strengths and weaknesses and evaluate resilience management programs. In total 249 individuals representing 68 organisations in Auckland, New Zealand took part in the study. The results are discussed in terms of the resilience of the community of organisations in Auckland, the individual industry sectors that were represented, and the individual organisations that took part.

Effective management of the response to an incident or emergency event is critically dependent on the decision-making skills of incident and emergency management (IEM) personnel. In a series of workshops conducted in 2022 by Natural Hazards Research Australia, priorities were identified that specified future needs for the practice and training of IEM decision-making. The research in this paper contributes to the understanding of how to address these priorities by considering the views of a sample of fire and rescue service personnel about their agency’s current decision-making training program and aspects to improve. This paper provides findings from 34 semi-structured interviews with fire and rescue services personnel in Australia. The sample comprised 29 men and 5 women. Participants worked in rural fire services (n=17), urban fire services (n=9) and State Emergency Services (n=8). The findings suggest that there is need for greater training focus on emergency management decision-making, greater use of exercise-based training activities, a formal approach to mentoring and coaching staff development programs and mandatory refresher courses and review exercises to maintain incident management skills. Australian fire and rescue services agencies need to ensure they are taking a strategic and holistic approach to emergency management learning and development programs.

In the aftermath of a disaster event, there is an increased need for public participation in recovery-related decision-making, exceeding the typical scope of public participation in non-disaster settings. Community-led approaches to recovery are generally considered advantageous to ‘top down’ approaches, not only based on principles of democratic local governance, but also for sustainability, suitability to local context and the implementation benefits that local buy-in and participation can provide. Community recovery committees are a frequently used mechanism in Australia to enact community-led approaches to recovery. This paper outlines the development of a new self-assessment tool for community recovery committees to support these groups identify areas of agreement and disagreement in relation to governance, formation and scope and stakeholder engagement, based on learnings from past groups. This paper outlines the development and testing of the tool and subsequent insights for future community recovery committees and for government and other agencies supporting them.

Garden management plays a crucial role in reducing bushfire risk at the wildland-urban interface, yet implementation of fire-safe practices remains challenging. An analysis of garden assessments and in-depth interviews with 23 property owners in Greater Hobart, Tasmania, examined how technical, social and emotional factors influence garden bushfire adaptation decisions. Using the Cynefin framework and complexity theory, this study demonstrates that successful adaptation addresses multiple domains of complexity, from straightforward vegetation management to complex socio-emotional attachments to garden spaces. Findings reveal that while personalised garden assessment reports can motivate change, their success depends on a broader set of conditions. Barriers include practical constraints (e.g. green waste management), emotional attachments to garden elements and difficulties obtaining context-specific guidance. By applying the As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) principle, this study identified cost-effective interventions across the 4 avenues of institutional support and resource management, individual garden bushfire adaptation, personalised technical guidance and community support networks. This research suggests that creating fire-adapted gardens requires coordinated support systems that address both practical implementation challenges and emotional connections to garden spaces.

Land-based search and rescue training in Aotearoa New Zealand has undergone substantial change, yet there has been limited examination of how these changes have affected the analytical foundations of search management. This review was undertaken to identify what concepts, tools and competencies have been retained, modified or lost in the Managing Land Search Operations course that evolved into Manage the Initial Response and Extended Search Planning. Using 8 analytical domains and a continuity scoring approach, this longitudinal review examined the evolution of 3 core courses. Findings indicate improvements in operational rhythm, interoperability, safety and alignment with the country’s Coordinated Incident Management System. However, these gains are accompanied by a reduction in analytical depth, probability-based reasoning and decision traceability. Key frameworks, including the Probability of Success equation and the Bike Wheel model, have been simplified without clear justification. This review concludes with recommendations to restore analytical foundations and strengthen evidence-based decision-making within the search and rescue training system.

The professionalisation of emergency management in Australia is ongoing. Supporting that process is the development of a body of knowledge to support the new profession. The body of knowledge for emergency management requires that emergency events are recorded in a manner and format that supports ongoing learning and research. There is currently no agreed format or standard for the recording of emergency events in Australia. Emerging from research into the human capacities of an emergency manager in Australia is the concept of a minimum dataset that supports building the body of knowledge and supports future research. The Australian Emergency Management Uniform Minimum Dataset is proposed as a means of standardising the collection of data related to emergency events that occur in Australia. A standardised collection of data will allow for practitioners and researchers to identify and learn from past events and will support the professionalisation of emergency management practice.

This study explores how leadership behaviours and organisational characteristics influence moral distress and moral injury among frontline emergency services personnel. Fifty-four Australian emergency responders completed an online survey containing 6 open-ended questions addressing their experiences, influential organisational and leadership factors, alignment between personal and organisational values and recommendations for organisational change. Responses were analysed using thematic analysis. Organisational factors, rather than direct exposure to trauma incidents, were frequently described as primary drivers of moral distress and injury. Specifically, distrust in leadership and perceptions of procedural injustice commonly amplified respondents' vulnerability to moral distress or injury. Participants reported a disconnect between organisational and personal moral values and indicated perceptions of inconsistency between the stated and enacted values of their organisations. Empathetic and supportive leadership behaviours were identified as protective factors, while bullying, unethical actions and leader detachment were commonly perceived as exacerbating experiences of moral distress and injury. These findings underscore the potential importance of attending closely to leadership practices, organisational ethics and the alignment of organisational values.

Indonesia’s coastal regions are among the most disaster-prone areas in Southeast Asia, where repeated earthquakes and tsunamis test the resilience of local health systems. This study assessed post-disaster changes in governance, coordination and service capacity across 3 provinces of Aceh, West Sumatra and Central Sulawesi using secondary data from the Indonesian Ministry of Health, Health Crisis Management profiles. A pre–post evaluation framework was applied across 6 resilience dimensions of governance, coordination, human resources, infrastructure, logistics and financing. Results indicated substantial post-disaster improvements in governance and coordination, particularly in Aceh, but persistent weaknesses remain in logistics and health workforce readiness. The findings highlight the importance of continuous learning, sustained financing and inter-agency collaboration to strengthen local health system preparedness for future emergencies. These insights contribute practical lessons for disaster risk governance particularly in coastal and resource-constrained contexts.

The unprecedented nature of flood impact on populations globally is a challenge for government organisations. Similarly, the consequences of inaction to address rapid urbanisation, unequal economic development, regulatory defiance, resource constraints, flood risk reduction policy gaps and other forms of systemic risk is coming at a huge cost to individuals, the private sector, governments and communities. The complex, uncertain, interrelated and multi-dimensional nature of flood risk necessitates the redevelopment of established urban centres of heritage, cultural and economic significance, which leaves behind residual risks that undermine the efforts of international humanitarian development initiatives and governments to address pre-existing risks. Using a qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews from public sector organisations and international non-governmental organisation projects, this paper argues for a systemic redevelopment of institutional approaches to flood risk reduction. This is achieved through thematic analysis of participant views on institutional pressures and the nature of interacting systems and arrangements influencing flood mitigation responses and access to social and self-protection. This paper offers a framework that provides insights valuable for rethinking non-structural approaches to flood risk governance.

The complex challenges of disaster recovery cannot be addressed by any single individual, organisation or institution. However, collaboration is often oversimplified as a ‘magic bullet’ solution to those challenges. Current approaches to understanding collaboration often fail to acknowledge that collaboration inevitably involves conflict, as it brings together organisations with divergent interests, practices and values. This study explored this challenge through semi-structured interviews with 38 Australian disaster recovery practitioners on their experiences of conflict in collaborative partnerships. This paper finds that psychological, procedural and substantive interests all play a role in inter-agency conflict and suggests that understanding them can help recovery workers to better navigate collaborative relationships. It also argues that we need to rethink collaboration and conflict.

The complex challenges of disaster recovery cannot be addressed by any single individual, organisation or institution. However, collaboration is often oversimplified as a ‘magic bullet’ solution to those challenges. Current approaches to understanding collaboration often fail to acknowledge that collaboration inevitably involves conflict, as it brings together organisations with divergent interests, practices and values. This study explored this challenge through semi-structured interviews with 38 Australian disaster recovery practitioners on their experiences of conflict in collaborative partnerships. This paper finds that psychological, procedural and substantive interests all play a role in inter-agency conflict and suggests that understanding them can help recovery workers to better navigate collaborative relationships. It also argues that we need to rethink collaboration and conflict.