The contemporary management of natural hazards promotes building community resilience through risk management and comprehensive attention to prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. Achieving adequate planning for possible disasters requires identifying and understanding the geographical attributes, both physical and social, that may contribute to the resilience and/or vulnerability of places to such events. Subsequent disaster and community planning can then be strategically applied to enhance resilience. Referring to recent events, this session will workshop the geography of community vulnerability and resilience to disasters, identify the links to strategic response and recovery, and discuss how resilience can be built during these operational phases.

1. The geography of
community resilience
to hazards & disasters
Dr Peter Hastings
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

2. The geography of community
resilience to hazards & disasters
• Resilience – new direction in disaster
management
• What makes a community resilient?
• Applying a geographical perspective to
investigate the resilience of places
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

3. Community Resilience – what is it?
Resilience – the ability to “spring back from” an
incident or disaster (resist, absorb, accommodate
to, recover & emerge stronger)
Determined by the degree to which the community
has the necessary resources and is capable of
organising itself both prior to & during times of
need… (UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction; UNISDR)
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

4. Community Resilience – what is it?
The flip-side…
Vulnerability
“The conditions determined by
physical, social, economic and environmental
factors or processes, which increase the
susceptibility of a community to the impact of
hazards.”
(National Emergency Risk Assessment Guidelines)
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

5. Community Resilience – what is it?
• Resilient Communities:
– Function well while under stress
– Can successfully adapt (adaptive capacity)
– Are self-sufficient
– Have social capacity
– Understand the risks
– Plan for emergencies, coordinate & participate
– Engage appropriate landuse planning
(adapted from NEMC 2011)
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

6. How resilient to hazards
is this place?
How resilient to hazards
are these people/communities?
Place/community imagery
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

7. Analysing disaster resilience
facilitates good geography
• Place/community based
• Analyses of physical & cultural
landscape interaction
• Spatial analysis (accessibility, networks, relative
location, risk, landuse, regional contrasts, landscape
change/ adaptation, relative disadvantage, social
capital, sustainibility etc.)
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

8. How Vulnerable/ Resilient is this Place?
• You have been asked to make an “all hazards”
assessment…
• What observable characteristics of a place would
you look at to indicate –
(a) vulnerability &
(b) resilience?
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

9. How Resilient is this Place?
Landscape Element Vulnerability Indicators Resilience Indicators
People/ Demography e.g. high% aged ?
Environment e.g. floodplain ?
Economy ? ?
Public Admin. ? e.g. DM planning
Social Setting ? ?
Infrastructure ? ?
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

10. How Resilient is this Place? – The Gap, Brisbane
Imagery: Google Earth
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

11. The Gap, Brisbane – Emergency Services
Imagery: Google Earth
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

12. Source: http://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/Bushfire%20Planning/index.html
Rural Fire Service – Queensland Government
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

13. Source: http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community/community-safety/disasters-and-emergencies/types-of-
disasters/flooding/understanding-your-flood-risk/flood-flag-map/index.htm
Brisbane City Council
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

14. The Gap (suburb), 2006 Census, ABS
Source: www.abs.gov.au Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006 Census

15. Source: www.abs.gov.au Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006 Census
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

16. How Resilient is this Place? – Be careful!
Imizamo Yethu, South Africa
• Informal community
• Abject poverty
• At risk
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

17. The geography of community
resilience to hazards & disasters
• Resilience – new emphasis in disaster
management
• What makes a community resilient?
• Applying a geographical perspective to
investigate the resilience of places
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management

18. Some resources
* The National Emergency Management Committee (NEMC) 2011, National Strategy for Disaster
Resilience, building our nation’s resilience to disasters.
Available online: http://www.coag.gov.au/coag_meeting_outcomes/2011-02-
13/docs/national_strategy_disaster_resilience.pdf
Handmer, J 2003, ‘We are all vulnerable’, The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 18, no
3, pp.55-60.
Available online: http://www.em.gov.au/Documents/We%20are%20all%20Vulnerable.pdf
Harte, EW, Childs, IRW and Hastings, PA 2009, ‘Imizamo Yethu: a case study of community resilience to fire
hazard in an informal settlement Cape Town, South Africa’, Geographical Research, vol.47 Issue 2, pp.142–154.
Available online:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-
5871.2008.00561.x/abstract;jsessionid=73163EF7B3AE4A0BA71C10D19B61F645.d02t01
National Emergency Management Committee, 2010, National Emergency Risk Assessment
Guidelines, Tasmanian State Emergency Service, Hobart. (NERAG). Available online:
http://www.em.gov.au/Publications/Program%20publications/Pages/NationalEmergencyRiskAssessmentGuide
lines.aspx
Brisbane Flood Mapping: http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/community/community-safety/disasters-and-
emergencies/types-of-disasters/flooding/understanding-your-flood-risk/flood-flag-map/index.htm
Queensland Rural Fire Service Mapping:
http://www.ruralfire.qld.gov.au/Bushfire%20Planning/index.html
School of Geography, Planning & Environmental Management