Research supported by Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre) is featured in the October 2023 issue of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management (AJEM). AJEM is published by the Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience, profiling recent prominent natural hazards and emergency management research.
This October 2023 issue features research that incorporates findings from the Centre’s project Community experiences of the 2022 Australian floods.
‘Anarchy in the Uki! How a hybrid of structure and autonomy can exist in community self-organisation’ explores self-organising community-led emergency responses and recovery. Melanie Bloor (Resilient Uki), Natasha Wernick (Byrrill Creek Community Resilience Team) and Centre researcher A/Prof Mel Taylor drew on the Centre’s research, along with case studies and first-hand accounts, to highlight the strengths in community-self efficacy after a disaster.
October’s edition also includes the cognitive-behavioural clinical trial lead by psychologist and Centre postgraduate researcher Fadia Isaac at Federation University. For her PhD project Online cognitive-behavioural intervention for treatment of insomnia and nightmares in bushfire survivors, Fadia is seeking participants to undertake a 4- or 8-week program that explores symptoms of sleep disturbance due to living through a bushfire, such as insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and nightmares. Open to community members or first responders, taking part is easy and can be done in the comfort of home, without being hooked up to any sleep devices. Early signs are promising, and based on the success of the trial, the program could develop into an evidence-based, free resource.
Centre Associate Student Susan Atkinson’s (University of Canberra) article in the October edition explores how information flows in communities during a natural hazard. The article draws on research from her PhD project Understanding people’s communication needs during a natural disaster crisis. Research is showing that emergency services organisations are not necessarily the primary sources of information people turn to in a crisis.
Former Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Associate Student, Dr Vivien Forner (University of Sydney), also contributed to the October edition with an article on the importance of addressing the key issues facing volunteers in the emergency management sector. Viven’s research addresses the value of the volunteer workforce as essential to strengthen climate change resilience.
You can find the October issue of AJEM here: https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-october-2023/