TY - JOUR
T1 - Cohesion, corrosion and fire adaptation
T2 - the case of Boolarra in Australia
AU - Forbes-Mewett, Helen
AU - Schermuly, Allegra
N1 - Funding Information:
Fundraising augments the resources available to people that may have lost almost everything, enabling communities to work towards fire adaptedness. Clearly, it is important for such funds to be fairly allocated [10]. Given the vulnerabilities of those affected by such an event, it is not difficult to understand why perceptions of unfair distribution abound. Fundraising could provide the means to enable affected residents to re-build their home and decrease the level of vulnerability to future bushfires by augmenting the level of fire adaptedness (Paveglio, Boyd and Carroll 2017). Furthermore, those unimpacted by a disaster can show support for affected communities and contribute to cohesion beyond the affected town. Timely and transparent distribution and perceptions of fairness, as well as prescribed criteria for allocation, remain key to this mechanism's success [10]. With the frequency and intensity of bushfire events increasing, many people in fire prone areas may find themselves unable to afford or even access insurance to recoup their losses in future events. Therefore, fundraising may grow to be increasingly relied on by governments seeking to fill the pot of money available to rebuild communities in ways that decrease vulnerability to bushfire and enhance disaster recovery processes and resilience for the longer term goal of fire adaptedness. Our findings suggest it is imperative this process is carefully implemented, and that those giving and receiving funds are assured of a fair process for all concerned, thus lessening the likelihood of developing a corrosive community [10]. Our work reinforces the broader global literature and demonstrates the value of conceptualising community experiences of and responses to bushfire disasters as linked across different nations.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - Bushfires are becoming more frequent and intense in Australia and worldwide. This study examines how the Boolarra community in the Victorian state of Australia was impacted by bushfire in 2009. We consider the implications of the recovery process experienced by residents on future fire-adaptedness. We take a qualitative research approach using in-depth interviews with residents of Boolarra who experienced the fire and recovery period. We explore community dynamics following the aftermath of the fire. Our data demonstrates that some community members believed that the event had bolstered community cohesion, underpinned by support and practical help from each other, as well as from government and charitable organisations. In contrast, examples were also given of institutional support that appeared to lack fairness and transparency in distribution. This situation led to feelings of resentment, thus community corrosion, between those who did and those who did not benefit from the various government and charitable reparations. We argue that with the increasing prevalence of bushfires globally, there is a need to understand the cohesive and corrosive effects that elements of the recovery process can have on different community members.
AB - Bushfires are becoming more frequent and intense in Australia and worldwide. This study examines how the Boolarra community in the Victorian state of Australia was impacted by bushfire in 2009. We consider the implications of the recovery process experienced by residents on future fire-adaptedness. We take a qualitative research approach using in-depth interviews with residents of Boolarra who experienced the fire and recovery period. We explore community dynamics following the aftermath of the fire. Our data demonstrates that some community members believed that the event had bolstered community cohesion, underpinned by support and practical help from each other, as well as from government and charitable organisations. In contrast, examples were also given of institutional support that appeared to lack fairness and transparency in distribution. This situation led to feelings of resentment, thus community corrosion, between those who did and those who did not benefit from the various government and charitable reparations. We argue that with the increasing prevalence of bushfires globally, there is a need to understand the cohesive and corrosive effects that elements of the recovery process can have on different community members.
KW - Bushfire
KW - Cohesive and corrosive communities
KW - Recovery
KW - Resilience
KW - Fire adapted
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163196060&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103804
DO - 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103804
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85163196060
SN - 2212-4209
VL - 94
JO - International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
JF - International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
M1 - 103804
ER -