Fiona Jennings, a former resident of Dunalley in Tasmania, completed a PhD project as part of the non-traditional volunteering project titled ‘Community volunteering and disaster recovery; a case study of community resilience in the 2013 Forcett Bushfire, Tasmania’.
In the days following the 2013 Forcett bushfire in Tasmania, community members (non-traditional volunteers) spontaneously adopted roles and responsibilities of protecting, caring and helping those affected by the bushfire, utilising what local resources were available at the time to meet those needs
In an emergency local people are generally the first responders, and community participation and ownership is now recognised as a crucial aspect of disaster recovery, fostering community resilience and building community.
The study examined community members’ experiences of non-traditional emergency volunteering and identify how volunteering contributes to building community resilience. The aim of this research is to contribute to policy and practice of building community resilience and supporting communities’ in future natural disasters.
Blog posts on Views & Visions
| Post | Date | Key Topics |
|---|---|---|
| From PhD to practice | 12 Aug 2020 | communication, communities, local knowledge |
| Sharing PhD findings on community decision making | 31 Oct 2017 | communities, local knowledge, volunteering |
| Data progress on Forcett fire | 08 Apr 2016 | communities, recovery, volunteering |
| The launch into PhD research! | 05 May 2015 | communication, communities, decision making |
Student project
Resources credited
| Type | Released | Title | Download | Key Topics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation-Audio-Video | 29 Apr 2020 | Navigating uncertainty: community experiences of a bushfire disaster by Fiona Jennings |
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communities, fire impacts, volunteering |
| Presentation-Slideshow | 07 Sep 2017 | Navigating a bushfire disaster: a community's experience 2013 Forcett Tasmania bushfire disaster |
 Save (1.99 MB) |
communities, fire, fire impacts |
| Guide-Fact Sheet | 07 Jul 2015 | Fiona Jennings PhD Progress Report 2015 |
Save (64.19 KB) |
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| Presentation-Slideshow | 07 Aug 2014 | Sharing Responsibility and Non-Traditional Volunteering |
Save (1.63 MB) |
non-traditional recruitment, volunteering |
