Neil DuftyMolino Stewart Pty Ltd

Learning for Disaster Resilience

I’ve had my share of disasters

…and there’s more (this one a near miss)

so I could be called a ‘walking disaster’

Evidence• Personal experience in disasters • Experience working in disaster-prone communities• Investigation into Australian disaster-related community

education across agencies• Design, implementation and evaluation of ECE programs• Numerous reports on aspects of hazard education,

communications and engagement• Monitoring of worldwide trends including through social

media• Major reviews of community warning systems e.g.

progress with Vic bushfire warnings, review of warnings for Vic Floods Review

Some terms

• Resilience: return to ‘normal’ functioning; ‘bounce back’ vs ‘bounce forward’

• Education: two-way process with defined learning outcomes e.g. school program, volunteer training

• Communications: one-way process from provider e.g. media release, community warning

• Engagement: interactive dialogue process e.g. community forum, world cafes

ECE and learning

• In many cases disaster-related education, communications and engagement (ECE) are integrated e.g. in a public event, social media

• ECE leads to individual and community learning

• There should be ‘shared responsibility’ for disaster ECE between agencies and communities

Disaster Risk ReductionGoal: Minimise residual risk

Learning from ECE:•Improve risk perception•Ways to minimise risk•Post-event learning

Emergency ManagementGoal: Public safety

Learning from ECE:•Precautions•How/when to respond•How to recover•Post-event learning e.g. how to better prepare

Is this enough to build community disaster

resilience?

Evidence shows a ‘community development’ element is also required

Evidence includes:•Extensive research into disaster-affected communities (e.g. 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina)•Psychological studies in a range of communities•Actions in Australia’s National Strategy for Disaster Resilience

Social capital

• Social capital is the ‘networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit’ (Putnam, 1995)

• Several researchers (e.g. Aldrich, Chamlee-Wright) have found that social capital is critical to the fast and efficient recovery of disaster-affected communities and thus it should be an important part of community development for disaster resilience

Community DevelopmentGoal: Coordination and cooperation for disasters

Learning from ECE:•How/where to develop networks, trust•How/where to develop human capital e.g. leadership•Post-event learning

Best practices in ECE

• Based on understanding of the learning community e.g. psychological profiles

• Should be participatory

• Integrated with other DRR, EM and CD activities

• Ongoing, not campaign

• Cross-hazard where possible

• Include evaluation of ECE programs e.g. use of logic models

• Use of a range of ECE techniques including social media

‘Learning for Disaster Resilience’ (LfDR)

we now have a framework but more research is required

LfDR will help those impacted by disasters to become more resilientYes that’s me with hair and a son who is now 26!

Thank you

Questions?