Exploring community resilience to cascading disasters in Australia | Natural Hazards Research Australia

Exploring community resilience to cascading disasters in Australia

Research theme

Resilient communities

Project type

Associate student research

Project status

In progress

This PhD project will address how:

  • communities adapt, learn, and transform in response to cascading disasters and how these factors contribute to preparedness for future disasters
  • communities that have not fully recovered from previous events are able to prepare for or recover from successive events, including not only infrastructure, but also social and emotional damage
  • different resilience strategies emerge in response to different types of social, economic and environmental adversity.
Research team
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Anna Williams
Research leader
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Dr Sarah Clement
Supervisor
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Dr Petra Buergelt
Supervisor
Project details

In recent times many researchers have noted significant gaps in research that consider the impacts of cascading disasters. While some have considered the ecological processes of cascading events, as well as their impacts upon infrastructure, physical health and natural environments, there remain gaps in understanding the effects of cascading disasters upon preparedness and recovery at a community-level. This PhD project aims to study these effects across Australian communities in NSW through the complementary lenses of Complex Adaptive Systems and Symbolic Interactionism.

Participating organisations
Australian National University

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Increased postgraduate research capability