Published works

Disaster recovery is a complex process, requiring support from a range of people and organisations after an event. For the past decade, the four recovery environments (built, social, economic and natural) have been used to recognise this complexity and frame recovery efforts. However, recovery efforts often remain siloed, with inadequate attention paid to the interconnectedness between environments and the particular nuances across the social environment. There is a need for accessible, engaging and evidence-based resources to provide guidance for how to apply key recovery principles in practice.

The Recovery Capitals (ReCap) project aimed to promote wellbeing after disasters by examining the disaster recovery evidence base and producing a set of resources to help guide recovery efforts. It was a collaboration between the University of Melbourne, Massey University (Aotearoa New Zealand), Australian Red Cross, and other researchers, government and non-government agencies and organisations from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

The ReCap project began with an examination of the evidence base for recovery risk and protective factors using a  Community Capitals Framework (Emery, Fey and Flora, 2006). It focused on how seven forms of capital - natural, built, political, cultural, human, social, financial – can influence wellbeing after disasters, and how they can influence each other. Through discussions between researchers and end-users, this was then adapted to develop the Recovery Capitals Framework (RCF). The RCF highlights the interconnectedness between recovery capitals, multiple dimensions regarding people, place and time and values of diversity and equity. Key messages were distilled down from the initial evidence-mapping to simplify findings and determine practically oriented considerations that we presented in a set of resources. These spanned a range of formats to cater to different users’ needs and included contributions from artists and graphic designers across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to produce visually engaging material.

The ReCap resources serve a range of purposes and are designed to guide disaster recovery efforts across different community contexts. The resources can be used to build capacity rapidly after an event, as well as in pre-event recovery planning to enhance resilience prior to disasters. They can be used in a wide range of disaster contexts, and by the wide range of people engaged in disaster recovery including policy makers, ‘on-the-ground’ staff and volunteers, including those whose core work is unrelated to disasters (e.g., teachers, healthcare workers and community organisations). The ReCap resources have also been tailored to the sociocultural contexts of the two countries, particularly with regard to representing the cultural perspectives and experiences of Indigenous peoples in appropriate ways.

The Australian edition of Guide to Disaster Recovery Capitals (ReCap Guide) was piloted from July 2020, with a high degree of engagement in the piloting process from end-users and incorporation into recovery operations throughout key organisations in the Australian sector. The Aotearoa New Zealand version built on the Australian version and had Aotearoa New Zealand specific evidence added. In  November 2020 it was shared informally with Māori stakeholders to evaluate the effectiveness of the messages, artwork and tone. Feedback elicited was then combined with findings collected from the dissemination of the Australian pilot Guide to improve the document’s readability. Following a more formalised consultation process with the wider stakeholder group in Aotearoa New Zealand, the current iteration is being finalised and will be disseminated appropriately.

The updated set of ReCap resources were released in May 2021. They are available via www.recoverycapitals.org.au. Dissemination is underway within Australia and will begin in Aotearoa New Zealand in mid-2021. Current and planned applications of the resources include: guiding local government initiatives; featuring on the Victorian Government’s Digital Recovery Guidelines Solution platform; informing national government resources and workshops; use in training within governments and not-for-profits; informing new research projects; and being embedded into a range of Australian Red Cross activities including the development and monitoring of recovery programs, needs assessment, updating resources and presentations including to the International Federation Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the National Emergency Management Agency, New Zealand Red Cross and various civil defence and emergency management agencies and workers are eager to draw on the Aotearoa New Zealand guide to utilise in training and guidance contexts.

These uses to date span a range of disaster types including bushfires, floods, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This demonstrates the significant potential of these resources to support evidence-based, holistic and inclusive future recovery efforts throughout Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Project contributors are committed to continuing to develop this body of work through ongoing collaboration between researchers and end-users, including through a new Beyond Disasters Advisory Committee which will be convened by the University of Melbourne team from late 2021. This includes efforts to build disaster resilience evidence and convert it into useful tools to guide policy and practice, and to continue to focus on gaps relating to the recovery experiences of certain groups.

Another key aspect to this project was the exploration of residential mobility following disasters, which was led by the Aotearoa New Zealand team. This work built on an earlier document produced for this project on residential mobility and wellbeing. The new iteration used a case study approach to explore relevant literature on experiences of residential mobility in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. It described the complexity of how and why people relocated, the contextual influences that drive mobility in response and recovery and community recovery and wellbeing. The residential mobility work informed the development of the ReCap resources, in particular the focus on equity and inclusion.