Whether it’s pamphlets aimed at prevention or text alerts, mass communication is often relied on during disasters. This flawed approach can be improved by engaging meaningfully with communities.
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Articles on Disaster resilience
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The North Queensland floods remind us of the need to build community resilience to disasters – during the event, in the immediate aftermath and beyond.
The agreement still leaves many unanswered questions, as well as concerns from vulnerable countries about who will qualify, who pays and who is in charge.
Cities and towns have been devastated by the impact of the 6.8 magnitude quake – the largest recorded in the country’s history.
While well-meaning, it’s unclear whether the benefits of training community members to respond to disasters outweigh the risks.
The climate crisis demands innovations in our everyday infrastructures. If these changes are to be adopted en masse, finding the right fit between communities and infrastructures is vital.
The federal election presents an opportunity to promote plans for improving national disaster governance and resilience. But the silence on these issues in political debates has been remarkable.
Thinking carefully about people’s health during and after disaster is crucial to building disaster resilience. Ensuring access to medicines is a core part of that goal.
As Fiji did after 2016’s catastrophic cyclone, Tonga will likely face challenges with building materials and costs, and low levels of technical expertise. But these can be overcome.
Disasters highlight the cost of society’s love of efficiency. Nature, in contrast, favors resilience. Being more like nature offers benefits for society, especially in the face of the climate crisis.
The real success of the National Recovery and Resilience Agency will be not only in what it does, but in how it carries out its work, in the relationships it forges, and in the trust it gains.
Infrastructure is often seen as the main way to reduce the impacts of climate-related disasters like floods and drought. But cities are complex systems with many factors affecting their resilience.
We can design parks, open space and public infrastructure to hold excess water when flood strikes. That means better control of where floodwater ends up, reducing the risk to lives and property.
Following the 2009 Victorian Black Saturday bushfires, more than half the women in one study reported experiencing domestic and family violence. Many had never experienced it before.
Wetlands bear the brunt of much storm damage to the coast. But over the past 300 years, 85% of the world’s wetland area has been destroyed.
The small fire and heatwave prone town of Tarnagulla got together, applied for funding and co-produced a resilience action plan so they’re better prepared for the next disaster.
Yesterday, the bushfire royal commission handed down interim observations. But there’s a glaring omission.
Top contributors
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Senior Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University
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Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School (Learning and Teaching), Griffith University
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Senior Research Fellow, Battery Storage & Grid Integration Program, Australian National University
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Associate Professor, Institute for Global Prosperity, UCL
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Professor in Organization and Management, UNSW Sydney
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Professor of Computer Science, Rice University
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Michael Howes is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor, Griffith University
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Honorary Professor, Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions, Australian National University
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Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, Honorary Adjunct Research Fellow, Western Sydney University
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Adjunct Research Fellow at the Cities Research Institute, Griffith University
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Course Director, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology, Swinburne University of Technology
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Dean of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney
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Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University, Deakin University
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Researcher, Griffith University
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Senior Research Fellow, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Australian National University
