Building Resilience in the face of Catastrophic Events
()
About this ebook
Hints and Helpful Advice about What to Do
What people from disaster affected communities want us to know and do: before or after we face fire, flood or cyclone. How they want us to benefit from what they lived through.
Dr Margaret Moreton
Dr Moreton works with communities to support them identify, understand and strengthen their assets, to prepare for all hazards, to strengthen their resilience and their recovery from disasters, emergencies, shocks and stresses. She advises and works with all levels of government, and with non-government organizations including philanthropic foundations. She advocates for the inherent resilience of communities and the importance of community agency and voice.
Related to Building Resilience in the face of Catastrophic Events
Related ebooks
Weather Disasters: How to Prepare For and Survive Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Blizzards, and Other Catastrophes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurvival Guide: Shed or You're Dead - A Fast Acting Change Rx for Healthcare Professionals Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBiosecurity Interventions: Global Health and Security in Question Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsManagement of High Altitude Pathophysiology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDatabase Development The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Name of Security – Secrecy, Surveillance and Journalism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlood Survival: The Complete Guide on What to do Before, During, and After a Storm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHome Book of Cooking Venison and Other Natural Meats Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEye of the Storm Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvolving Times Learn 2 Love 2 Live Together: The Civilized Choice A Frank Discussion on cultivating healthy relationships Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnderstanding Loss and Grief: A Guide Through Life Changing Events Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Healing the Heart: Helping Your Child Thrive After Trauma Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmbracing Your Personal Village: A Practical Guide to Building Your Own Personal Community Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMindful Dementia Care: Lost and Found in ALzheimer's Forest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe truth behind the orphanages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBroken Systems-Shattered Lives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKilling the Wittigo: Indigenous Culture-Based Approaches to Waking Up, Taking Action, and Doing the Work of Healing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSensitive Is the New Strong: The Power of Empaths in an Increasingly Harsh World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5FIRE: A Message from the Edge of Climate Catastrophe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPerseverance Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fragile Resonance: Caring for Older Family Members in Japan and England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrief Diaries: Surviving Loss of an Infant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReal Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Choice: Finding Life in the Face of Adversity -- Six Stories from a Therapist's Casebook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow We Grow Through What We Go Through: Self-Compassion Practices for Post-Traumatic Growth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWOVEN: A Collection of Stories Weaving the Fabric of Motherhood, Womanhood & Humanity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPassion to Thrive: Reclaim Your Life's Potential, Purpose, Passion and Power Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCancer Unhinged: A Practical Manual for Those Who've Been Told 'You're Going to Die' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStop Being Lonely: Three Simple Steps to Developing Close Friendships and Deep Relationships Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Survival & Emergency Preparedness For You
Foraging Kitchen: A North American Wild Edibles Cookbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrepared: The 8 Secret Skills of an Ex-IDF Special Forces Operator That Will Keep You Safe - Basic Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Skills of Wilderness Survival: U.S. Army Official Handbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Get Off the Grid and Survive: Off Grid Living for Preppers and Survivalists: A Beginners Homestead Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurviving When SHTF Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConcealed Carry Class: The ABCs of Self-Defense Tools and Tactics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ocean: The Ultimate Handbook of Nautical Knowledge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEdible Wild Plants of Eastern North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Medicinal Herb Gardening: 10 Plants for The Self-Reliant Homestead Prepper: SHTF, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bug Out Gardening Guide : Growing Survival Garden Food When It Absolutely Matters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSolar & 12 Volt Power For Beginners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Off Grid Living Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Nuclear Threat of 2023: Understanding the Risks and Working Towards Disarmament Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFast & Fresh - Your Complete Guide to growing the Fastest most Nutritious food types at Home Using LED Lights Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMother Nature is Not Trying to Kill You: A Wildlife & Bushcraft Survival Guide (Camping & Hunting Survival Book) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Modern American Frugal Housewife Book #4 - Emergency Prepping: The Modern American Frugal Housewife Series, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrace for Impact: Air Crashes and Aviation Safety Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Foraging For Edible Wild Plants: The Natural Food Lover’s Guide to Identify and Cook the Abundant Free Food Around You Right Now Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSkip the Grocery Store!: The Ultimate Pantry and Emergency Preparation Cookbook Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPreparedness Gardening: Prepper's Survival Guide On Homesteading and Urban Gardening Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrepare the Necessary Bug Out Bag: Your 72-Hour Disaster Survival Kit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Going Off the Grid: The How-To Book of Simple Living and Happiness Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Building Resilience in the face of Catastrophic Events
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Building Resilience in the face of Catastrophic Events - Dr Margaret Moreton
Dedication and acknowledgement
I dedicate this book to the communities across Australia who have been devastated by an extreme weather event or crisis of some kind (e.g. fire, flood, cyclone or heat-wave); by a tragic accident or a deliberate act; or by the closure of a crucial local industry or employer.
So many Australians have survived a major shock to their way of life, to their community, to the place they call home. Nothing will ever be the same. We fear that our life will never return to the way it was before. We are temporarily knocked down. However, across this country, many take a deep breath, and stand back up. Even better, some of us reach out to one another to offer a hand in support. Some of us change our lives; we dare to dream, we learn from our losses, and we emerge stronger from our experience.
This book shares the experience of ordinary men and women across Australia, with communities everywhere. It has been written to give voice to what these people have learned about themselves, about loss and grief, and most importantly about the restorative power of human compassion and kindness.
Their advice and experience may help you when you don’t know what to do - when you need an idea to help yourself, your family, your neighbours or your broader community; to rebuild your sense of safety or connection wherever you live and whatever has happened.
The book is based on community-based research across Australia, in communities affected by large and frightening natural disasters or emergency events. The messages are from community members themselves, from ordinary people just like you, and the wisdom is theirs.
This book is a demonstration of the power of ordinary people, of the endurance of the human spirit, in the face or the aftermath of a temporarily overwhelming tragedy or loss.
I sincerely thank the community members who showed me their new homes, their gardens, and the prized possessions and mementos they plucked from the ashes, the water or the broken remnants of their previous home. I thank them for their trust in me. I hope this book does justice to their experience, their optimism, their courage, and their endurance.
Dr Margaret Moreton
Leva Consulting
Levaconsulting.com.au
How this book came about
In 2012, I resigned from my job, and embarked on a life-changing journey. I began a PhD at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. I wanted to find out if the community that I knew as a child in rural Victoria still existed anywhere. I wanted to find out if community resilience was real; and if so, what it looked and felt like. I hoped to see it, touch it and then to share it.
In the beginning, I doubted that human compassion was still part of the Australian way of life. I was not sure what I would find.
I knew that I would meet people who had lost everything: people who had lost family members and friends; whose homes had been destroyed; who had lost a lifetime of possessions and treasures. What I did not know is that I would meet people who had also found something: strength that they did not know they had; friends, family and neighbours to help them; and even strangers who reached out to support them in their darkest hour.
The experiences that people shared were sometimes complex, distressing, and threaded with grief and tragedy. And yet ultimately they were also hopeful and uplifting. I found people who were finding their way bravely through a dark moment in their lives. I found people who found the necessary courage and hope to rebuild their lives and reconnect with one another; to stand back up and find meaning and joy again.
The people who participated in my research may not have realized how much they gave to me. Not only did they share their stories and their experience, they also gave generously of themselves, to a stranger. They trusted me with their loss and their grief. They shared their emotions and they were honest and present with me. They have travelled with me ever since, through my own ups and downs, and through losses in my life. Their words have helped me through my own grief, and have given me a hand up, when I have needed it most. I am and will be forever grateful.
After being awarded a PhD in December 2016, I decided to do what many of them had asked of me. I decided to share their experience and their wisdom with as many people as possible. I now work with disaster affected communities and the organisations that seek to support them. I share what I have learned through my work and with the people I meet: and now I am sharing it with you.
I ask that you also share this information with others in your life. By doing so we honour what these people have faced, acknowledge the courage that they have found, and hopefully we learn from their experience.
The voices that fill the pages of this book are the voices of community members affected by natural disasters since the summer of 2010/11. The information is based on semi-structured interviews with them. Their key advice to other communities emerged through these interviews.
How to read this book
You may decide to read this entire book from front to back or you may ‘dip in and out’ of it; to find a gem of wisdom or an idea, and take time to reflect on that.
I encourage you to become very familiar with the information in this book; it will help you if you experience a crisis or emergency in the future, it will help you if you know someone who has experienced a crisis, and it will help you if you are trying to find the courage to recovery from an event.
There are questions scattered throughout this book. I recommend that you take some time to think about these questions as they apply to you and your community. It may be helpful to write your answers down and talk about them with your family, your household, and your friends. I suggest that you build on your answers over time, as you learn more and think further. If you decide to do everything in this book, it will take time and require effort. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and it may help to consider and act on one idea at a time.
If more of us understand and share this information, we will be helping ourselves and we will be helping one another. Together we can create a more resilient network of people and communities, across our country.
And if you want more...
I cannot possibly include everything there is to know about community resilience and recovery from crisis, in one small book. I encourage you to do your own research to find out more. Some useful website links are listed at the back of this book. The more you know about why and how natural disasters and other emergencies occur, and the more you can find out about