Published works

Catastrophic natural disasters by definition overwhelm the capability and capacity of emergency management organisations, at which times, the business sector can provide additional resources to assist communities. This study analyses the involvement of businesses in disaster management in Australia and New Zealand in three severe disaster events: the Black Saturday bushfires (2009); the Queensland floods (2010-11); and the Canterbury earthquake sequence (2010-11). It finds that businesses are already assisting communities to respond and recover from disasters, but there exists significant potential for further participation given a large number of businesses did not report involvement. Businesses are motivated by commitments to their staff and customers and corporate social responsibility, reflecting more complex business objectives then solely profit generation.