Disaster resilience is the capacity to prepare for, absorb and recover from natural hazards, and to learn, adapt and transform in ways that enhance these capacities in the face of future events. Disaster resilience arises from many social, economic and institutional capacities and the mix of these capacities in a community conveys how well it is positioned to absorb and adapt to natural hazards.
The Australian Disaster Resilience Index assesses disaster resilience using factors that encapsulate the resources and abilities to prepare for, absorb and recover from natural hazards (Coping Capacity), or that enable learning, adaptation and problem solving (Adaptive Capacity).
The Australian Disaster Resilience Index applies a top-down assessment approach, using data derived from secondary sources and a formative measurement model. In combination with the capacities approach, the Australian Disaster Resilience Index therefore assesses the capacities for disaster resilience that emerge from structural settings. Understanding the Australian Disaster Resilience Index as the capacity for disaster resilience is vital to interpreting the index and comparing among different places in Australia.
The Australian Disaster Resilience Index provides a nationally standardised assessment of the capacities for disaster resilience across the entire country. While the index covers the whole country, the spatial resolution for reporting is an SA2 (Statistical Area Level 2, Australian Bureau of Statistics). The capacity for disaster resilience is reported for 2,084 SA2s.
