Book of Abstracts 2013 - Australian and New Zealand Disaster ...

Dr Lisa Gibbs
Assoc Director, Brockhoff Child Health & Wellbeing, McCaughey Centre, University of
Melbourne
Co Authors - Block K 1 , Snowdon E 1 , Gallagher HC 2 , Ireton G 2 , Brady K 3 , Richardson J 3 , Sinnott V 4 , Waters E 1
1. Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, McCaughey VicHealth Centre for Community Wellbeing,
University of Melbourne
2. Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne
3. Health and Human Services Emergency Management, Victorian Department of Human Services
4. Australian Red Cross
5. Prevention and Population Health Branch, Victorian Department of Health
Mapping shifting community recovery issues over the 4 years post bushfires
The primary focus of much policy, research and practice relating to disaster relief and recovery is on the relatively
short-term period post-disaster. This of course fails to recognise the often protracted process of physical, economic,
psychological and social rebuilding. Beyond Bushfires is a 5 year research study being led by the University of
Melbourne that is exploring the interplay between individual and community factors and their influence on recovery
from natural disaster over the medium to long term period. The study is using multiple methodologies and involves
multiple partners. In building the relationships with communities to support a participatory approach we have met and
spoken with many individuals and community groups from bushfire-affected communities in a series of visits and
phone calls over the past three years.
This has provided a unique opportunity to observe the changing community issues post disaster, to analyse our
detailed community visit notes and map those shifting issues over time. The existing partnerships formed with
Australian Red Cross and Health and Human Services Emergency Management as part of Beyond Bushfires provided a
further opportunity to access community newsletters and Red Cross outreach reports collected since 2009 in the
analysis. These documents also reflect the evolving and changing nature of the issues faced by communities. The
resulting findings will be mapped against a timeline to provide a unique insight into both the shared and contextspecific
community issues that emerged over the four years after the bushfires occurred. This has clear applications for
prevention, planning and recovery service delivery for the medium to longer term post disaster.
Dr Grant Gillon
Senior Lecturer, AUT University
Reviewing for Resilience: A fifth phase?
During Hurricane Andrew (1992), Emergency Manager Kate Hale famously and publicly expressed her frustration
“Where the hell is the cavalry on this one?” The US President (George H. W. Bush) subsequently dispatched the army.
But, lessons identified since 1992 tell us that mostly there is no cavalry and communities recover by being resilient.
One essential component of a community’s resilience is being involved in all levels and phases of an emergency and this
includes any formal reviews of an event. Communities are encouraged to actively participate in all aspects of
emergency management but are often left out of a component essential for their very survival and recovery and
learning; the evaluation or review. The greater the degree of community connectedness, trust, understanding and
shared values, the higher the level of social capital enjoyed by that community.
This social capital translates into prosperity and strengthens collaborative ties. Such characteristics are particularly
useful when our emergency agencies rely so strongly on volunteer action and a prepared community develops
enhanced resilience. A community’s ability to rise above adversity and respond to its own needs has been illustrated