@article {bnh-8109, title = {Community organisation involvement in disaster management}, number = {678}, year = {2021}, month = {06/2021}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {MELBOURNE}, abstract = {

Severe to catastrophic disasters pose the potential to overwhelm traditional emergency management approaches, necessitating the adoption of a whole- of-community approach.

A key component of the whole-of-community approach is building collaborative partnerships between communities, government agencies, community organisations and businesses across the phases of prevention, preparedness, response and recovery to engage their full capacity.

To date there has been little research examining the role of Australian community organisations in disaster management although many organisations provide assistance. This research focuses specifically on the role and involvement of community organisations in disaster management.

Pertinent findings of the research were:

Recommendations

The following recommendations are made for consideration to improve the utilisation of capabilities offered by community organisations in disaster management.

  1. Australian disaster management doctrine should be revised to embrace a whole-of-community approach to disaster management.
  2. The role of community organisations including peak bodies should be clearly defined in relevant emergency plans.
  3. Community organisations should be involved in government-led disaster planning and exercises, including involvement in relevant emergency management committees.
  4. Local councils should form community resilience committees to promote collaboration and joint planning between government, community organisations and local businesses. These committees could be sub- committees of relevant emergency management committees.
  5. Government emergency management organisations should collectively work with community organisations to develop an understanding of community networks and community organisation capabilities.
  6. Government funding bodies should enable funding flexibility to allow community organisations to integrate disaster management initiatives into their core business activities.
  7. Specific disaster management grants should be targeted to community organisations to assist with maturing of disaster management capabilities and engagement with communities.
  8. Funding arrangements should enable collaboration between different community organisations, businesses and government.
  9. Community organisation peak bodies should take an active role in building the disaster management capabilities of their members.
  10. Emergency management organisations should work with community organisation peak bodies to develop a training strategy to upskill the staff and volunteers of community organisations in relevant disaster management roles. This could include a toolkit for community organisations to provide guidance on roles and better practice.
  11. Peak bodies and emergency management organisations should work with universities and training providers to incorporate emergency management content in relevant degree and training programs.
  12. Community organisations should work to develop business resilience plans. These can be supported by relevant toolkits tailored to community organisations.
  13. States and Territories should include community organisations within capability maturity assessments.
  14. The roles performed by community organisations in disaster management should be continually evaluated to ensure robust measurement of the value provided by community organisations.
  15. State and Territories should implement initiatives to raise the awareness of the role of community organisations in disaster management. These could include: integration of the role of community organisations within emergency management training, inclusion of community organisations in policy development and emergency management forums, specific communications outlining the role and value of including community organisations in disaster management, senior leadership involvement as champions.
  16. Community recovery programs should include the provision of mental health and wellbeing support to members of community organisations.
}, keywords = {community, disaster, involvement, management, organisations}, issn = {678}, author = {Andrew Gissing and Steve George} }