Paper Presented at the Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast (QLD), 5-7 May 2014

1. Neil Dufty
Principal, Molino Stewart Pty Ltd
What is disaster resilience
education?

2. Overview
• What is disaster resilience?
• Current disaster education
• Research
• Findings
• Steps in designing education programs
• Implications

3. Disaster resilience

4. Current disaster education
CHALLENGE: NOT KNOWN WHEN BEHAVIOURS ARE REQUIRED
LEADS TO PUBLIC SAFETY +
PROPERTY PROTECTION
Disaster learning
Engagement
Communicati
ons
Education

5. Reasons for research
Concerns about:
• Low levels of preparedness
• Findings from disaster education, communications &
engagement (ECE) evaluations
• Learnings from other forms of public ECE e.g. health,
sustainability education
• Recognition of disaster education, psychology and
sociology
• National Strategy for Disaster Resilience
What is Learning for Disaster Resilience (LfDR)?

6. Exploratory research used
6
EXPLORATORY CONFIRMATORY
To provide insights and understanding To test specific hypotheses and examine relationships
Information needed is defined only loosely Information needed is clearly defined
Research process is flexible and unstructured Research process is formal and structured
Sample is non-representative Sample is representative
Analysis of primary data is qualitative Data analysis is quantitative

7. Research framework for
content
Disaster ECE Disaster ECE
GOVERNANCE
POPULATION
ECONOMY
CLIMATE
CHANGE

8. Researching LfDR process
Disaster Psychology Disaster Sociology
Learning Theories
Disaster Resilience Learning

9. Findings - content
+ Climate change discourse (hydrological hazards)
LEARNING
FOR
DISASTER
RESILIENCE
Risk
Preparedness
Response
Recovery
Post-disaster
learning
Individual
resilience
Business continuity
Social capital

10. Findings - process
Learning domains Theory/Pedagogy Relevance Learning activities
Behavioural Programmed instruction Rehearsing behaviours
required prior to a
disaster
Drilling, exercising,
training
Cognitive Information processing Disaster information
needs to be processed
to trigger appropriate
behaviours
Warning messages,
social media, media
releases, signage,
crowdsourcing
Gestalt Risk perception,
decision-making,
attention, memory and
problem-solving are all
important requirements
for appropriate disaster
behaviours
Awareness-raising
documents and web
sites (e.g. risk,
preparedness actions),
role plays related to
disaster scenarios, maps
Constructivist People construct
learning from disaster
information and
experience
Oral histories, social
media, diaries, personal
research
Affective Experiential Prior or learned
experience is an
important factor in
people’s disaster
preparedness and
resilience
Gaming, simulations,
virtual reality training,
exercising
Social and emotional Emotional factors play
an important part in
people’s preparedness
and resilience
Workshops, social and
emotional learning
programs in schools,
resilient therapy, social
media, counselling
Transformational People may need to
change to prepare
appropriately for future
disasters
Role playing, disaster
case studies, mind
exploration, critical
reflection
Social Situated
learning/communities of
practice
Social capital has been
shown to be a major
factor in community
resilience
Social media, post-
disaster community
meetings, resilience
forums, community
engagement

11. Steps in designing programs

12. Implications
FOCUS CURRENT PREPAREDNESS
ECE
LEARNING FOR DISASTER
RESILIENCE
Goals public safety resilience
Scope preparedness and response across PPRR plus post-disaster
learning
Legitimacy communications, public
participation
education, psychology, sociology
Preparation
sought
emergency plans individual resilience-building,
business continuity planning, social
capital formation
Program design emergency services
organisations
participative with communities
Implementation mainly top-down through partnerships and networks
Methods mainly information-based,
engagement techniques
mainly experiential, social, affective
learning
Learners audiences and target groups participants, stakeholders and
partners
Technologies mainly websites multi-modal including social media
Externalities little dialogue linked to sustainability and climate
change learning
Evaluation at times, by providers regular formative and summative
evaluation with communities

13. Putting LfDR into practice
Fairfield City Flood Education Plan
http://works.bepress.com/neil_dufty/20/
Also several overseas programs including ‘Resilientville’
http://resilientville.com/learn.html
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
No risk Low risk Moderate
Risk
High risk
Property flooding House flooding

14. For you to consider
• More emphasis on how to return individuals, businesses
and communities to normal functioning
• Importance of post-event learning
• Evaluation – before, during and after disasters
• Work on the ‘host’ not just the ‘hazard’
• Use gaming, simulations, role plays, exercises, social
media, crowdsourcing, oral histories
• Ask ‘how do you feel?’
• Build helping networks in the community

15. Thank you