Abstract

In Australia, community organisations are pivotal to building the resilience of local vulnerable populations. Following a disaster event, community leaders have high levels of expectation placed on them. Despite this expectation, their organisations remain underfunded, there is scant acknowledgement of the actual and potential contribution that their organisations can make, and the social and psychological impact on the community leaders themselves frequently goes untreated. This discordance between expectations and support creates issues of justice in the context of disaster. In this chapter we examine these issues utilising the October 2013 experience of fires in the NSW Blue Mountains to argue that a strongly resourced and acknowledged community sector, whose leaders are appropriately supported, will enhance community resilience and contribute to the building of disaster justice
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNatural hazards and disaster justice
Subtitle of host publicationChallenges for Australia and its neighbours
EditorsAnna Lukasiewicz , Claudia Baldwin
Place of PublicationSingapore
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Chapter12
Pages221-238
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9789811504662
ISBN (Print)9789811504655
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2020

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