This paper reviews the practice and research trends in disaster resilience and disaster risk reduction literature since 2012. It applies the rapid appraisal methodology to explore developments in the field and to identify key themes in research and practice. In particular, the paper examines how the emerging themes of disaster risk reduction from the Sendai Framework are being integrated into health risk management and disaster governance paradigms. The research findings identify three important emerging themes: socialization of responsibility for resilience; ongoing interest in risk management with an emphasis on public private partnerships as enabling mechanisms; and a nuanced exploration of the concept of adaptive resilience.

Within Australia's federal system, responsibility for preventing, preparing for, responding to and recovering from natural disasters is shared between the three tiers of government. Intergovernmental policy and funding arrangements are premised on shared responsibility and aim to foster individual, business and community resilience. These arrangements underpin Australia's international reputation for effectiveness in its management of natural disasters. The capacity of the diverse networks that comprise the disaster management system to coordinate and deliver in the preparedness and response phases of a disaster, and to provide relief in the immediate aftermath, has been developed over time and tested and refined through the experience of frequent, severe disaster events over recent decades. Less well developed is the system's ability to support economic recovery in disaster-affected communities over the longer term. This paper presents case studies of regional communities affected by two of Australia's most expensive and deadly natural disasters-the 2009 Victorian bushfires and the cyclones and floods that struck the state of Queensland in 2010-2011. It highlights significant gaps in policy and funding arrangements to support recovery and offers lessons for aligning recovery within a resilience framework.

No abstract

The paper explores how subjective risk perception intersects with government disaster management policy that is premised on an objective approach to risk assessment and mitigation. It finds that the presumption of objective risk management underpinning government policy is fundamentally at odds with community risk perceptions. This paper applies the techniques of ethnographic study to explore how communities understand and frame risk narratives. Using qualitative methods, the paper constructs the risk narratives of residents of Rocklea, Brisbane, following their experience with the 2011 Brisbane Flood. These risk narratives are considered in light of the Australian National Strategy for Disaster Resilience and recommendations are accordingly made for government disaster management policy.

No abstract