The Guide to Post-disaster Recovery Capitals is now available. Illustration: Oslo Davis.
A new research-backed resource – the Guide to Post-Disaster Recovery Capitals – has been designed to support wellbeing and decision making during emergency recovery.
As part of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC’s Recovery Capitals project, the new guide is the product of an Australia–Aotearoa New Zealand collaboration between the University of Melbourne, Massey University, Australian Red Cross, other researchers, non-government organisations and emergency management agencies.
The guide is practical and can be applied to any type of emergency, large or small. It aims to enhance wellbeing after disasters by supporting evidence-based decision making of individuals, organisations and governments.
The current edition is a pilot version specific to Australia, which also considers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and recognises the need for greater attention to their particular experiences of disasters and recovery. A version tailored to Aotearoa New Zealand is also being developed, which will consider Māori people.
The guide identifies seven community capitals associated with recovery – natural, social, financial, cultural, political, built and human – and highlights the important interconnectedness between each of them. In this context, a capital is defined as the resources that are used to generate more or new resources for the purpose of sustaining and securing wellbeing.
For each of these seven community capitals, there is a section of the guide dedicated to the known role the capital plays in disaster recovery, how it can affect wellbeing, how it affects other capitals, and what to consider when assisting communities or individuals. For example, natural capital (which refers to natural resources and the overall health of ecosystems) plays a role in social connection, mental wellbeing, economic recovery, and decisions about remaining and locating, as well as cultural, political and spiritual aspects of life, particularly for Indigenous peoples. The guide provides an outline of what we know about these roles of natural capital, and what considerations this raises for community recovery.
Professor Lisa Gibbs at the University of Melbourne says that the Recovery Capitals has been released early, in response to multiple disasters affecting Australians.
“Given the multiple disasters Australians have been dealing with, it is really challenging to know how to manage all of the different impacts on people’s lives. This guide pulls together evidence from recent disasters in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally to provide clear messages about key things to consider in relation to the social, financial, cultural, political, built, human and natural environment factors in recovery,” Gibbs said.
One of the lead researchers, Phoebe Quinn, says that the guide aims to reflect diversity and issues of equity in disaster resilience and recovery.
“Disasters can reveal, deepen and create new inequities, and recovery looks different for different people,” Quinn said. “The guide highlights these issues, but more research is needed particularly in relation to the perspectives and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”
John Richardson, National Resilience Advisor at the Australian Red Cross, said the guide was a welcome disaster support tool for emergency managers across Australia.
“This research and the supporting resources enable us, as decision makers, programmers and practitioners, to make decisions understanding the complexity of recovery, reducing the potential for unintended consequences from decisions taken without the full picture,” said Richardson.
This guide – a pilot version – is the first in a series of resources that will be developed for different audiences in different formats, depending on user needs, including online and hard copies, evidence summaries, case studies and podcasts. Researchers are welcoming feedback from users, to help improve the usefulness of the guide.
You can find out more, including how to download the guide and provide feedback, at the Recovery Capitals website.