Key Facts:
With the risk of droughts and bushfires increasing for the next few months, a disaster recovery expert says we are far less prepared for their aftermath.
The country is now heading into its ‘severe weather’ season of heatwaves, bushfires, thunderstorms, flooding and tropical cyclones. And, with a powerful El Niño now also firmly established in the Pacific, the likelihood of warmer temperatures, reduced rainfall and fire danger is increasing across parts of Australia.
Warnings are already in place – to prepare your property, make a survival plan and know when you will leave. But UNSW Sydney’s Dr Kate Brady says we also need to pay attention to what happens after the flames pass, floodwaters recede – and the emergency broadcasts stop.
“Recovery is not quick and it is rarely linear,” Dr Brady says.
“In the early weeks after a disaster, people are often dealing with layered impacts,” she says.
“Housing is uncertain, work and schooling are disrupted, there are health and money concerns – and people are often also hit with the emotional toll of what they’ve been through in waves.
“It’s all happening at the same time.”
After the adrenaline
Dr Brady led the Australian Red Cross disaster recovery program for 12 years and is now a senior research fellow with the UNSW HowWeSurvive initiative. She says, in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, people may be propelled by urgency. There are relatives to contact, forms to complete, possessions to salvage and finding somewhere to sleep.
A family could be dealing simultaneously with an uninhabitable home, disrupted employment, displaced relatives and children attending different schools. Their GP may have relocated. The neighbours who once helped with school pick-ups may have left the area. The local sporting field, supermarket or childcare centre may be closed.
Feelings of exhaustion, irritation numbness and overwhelm can start to settle in – all normal responses to a disaster. But for some, these emotional impacts emerge after the danger has passed and the practical consequences become clearer.
Dr Brady says this is not the time to expect people to ‘push through’.
“Prioritising rest where possible, staying connected with others, accepting practical help and seeking support early – whether from friends and family, health professionals, community organisations or trusted people – can make a real difference,” she says.
It can also help to resist the pressure to solve every problem immediately.
Where to next?
“Recovery is a long-term process and needing support along the way is part of that,” Dr Brady says.
“It can feel big and overwhelming, so it’s important to try to find a sustainable pace to work through these issues.”
While the advice can seem simple, after a disaster, even routine tasks can be exhausting.
“Some people looking in from the outside might focus on one aspect and ask, ‘Why isn’t the housing fixed?'” Dr Brady says.
“But the recovery all sits together within quite a complex situation.”
She says people are not only considering how to recover what was lost – but how to create the next stage of life.
In the ABC podcast After the Disaster Dr Brady hosted, episode 4 ‘Should I stay or Should I move?’ features Ali, who lost her home in Strathewen during the 2009 Black Saturday fires.
Ali considered leaving with her husband before they eventually rebuilt on their property.
Another survivor, Gary, lost both his wife and his home in New Zealand’s Kaikōura earthquake. He rebuilt slowly, then ultimately decided to sell and move.
Why are we still surprised?
A year after a major disaster, news reports often return to find residents living in caravans, sheds, temporary villages or spare rooms. The images are presented as evidence that recovery has failed.
“There will usually be a tonne of outrage 12 months on, where we see people still living in caravans,” Dr Brady says.
“But we shouldn’t be surprised. For practically every single disaster we’ve had, people are still living in caravans or some form of temporary accommodation a year later. This is not a new thing we’re talking about.”
The more important question, she says, is why recovery systems continue to be designed as if prolonged displacement is unexpected. Recent research found Australian disaster survivors have remained in caravans and temporary housing for years, with some not receiving temporary housing support.
Dr Brady says disaster recovery should be planned over a minimum of five years. But recovery workers are commonly recruited only after an event and employed on short-term contracts.
“That’s basically the equivalent of hiring your fire brigade while the fire is burning and then being like, ‘Oh, come on, get on with it,'” she says.
The delay means new staff could be scrambling to understand affected communities, while residents are already trying to navigate complex systems.
And, at the next disaster, another temporary workforce starts again.
Disasters no longer wait their turn
The system is further strained because communities are increasingly recovering from more than one disaster at a time.
Black Summer was preceded by severe drought. In some places the fires were followed rapidly by floods. Then by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Families were trying to rebuild homes and businesses while supply chains stalled, borders closed and community support became harder to provide.
“There aren’t years and years between disasters anymore,” Dr Brady says.
Overlapping crises can aggravate vulnerabilities that existed before disasters – with enduring consequences for mental and physical health, children’s education, employment and relationships. Australian research has also found gender-based violence increases after disasters.
Dr Brady says people affected by disasters should be able to ask, “Will my children be supported to return to school and complete their education alongside their peers? ” or “Can I still receive care for a chronic health condition?” and “Will my privacy and dignity be protected while I seek assistance?”
She says, “trying to recover from all of these impacts that are affecting your physical health, your mental health, your relationships, your ability to work, your ability to finish school, your ability to concentrate on anything like your home, your networks – it’s all happening at a community level.
“And now, we also have multiple disasters hitting communities.”
What it means to recover
Dr Brady says communities must be involved directly in decisions about their recovery. Residents understand which services have disappeared, which groups are being overlooked, and which apparently efficient solutions could cause further harm.
While Australians are now being told to prepare for the moment disaster strikes, Dr Brady says governments must help prepare just as seriously for everything that follows.
“For decades now, across 30 or 40 years of climate science research, we’ve known disasters were going to increase in frequency and severity,” she says.
“Some of the projections show we’re now like a boulder at the top of a hill that is only just starting to pick up speed.”
Without long-term planning, an experienced recovery workforce and sustained investment in communities, she says, the pattern will continue of emergency, devastation, short-term assistance, fading attention – then outrage when survivors have not rebuilt their lives according to an arbitrary deadline.
“The story is always the same,” Dr Brady says.
“Outrage at a problem that was, in many ways, entirely predictable.”
