Natural disasters: designing services to respond to legal need

A succession of natural disasters with a large impact on Australian society, and the increasingly sophisticated research on the nature of legal need in Australia, have led to an increased focus on the role of legal assistance in recovery from disaster. The legal assistance sector has learned a number of important lessons in recent years about the nature of legal needs, post-disaster and the best approaches to addressing them. Experiences both in Australia and overseas indicate that there is no universal set of legal problems which are experienced by people following disaster. Nonetheless, recurrent themes are the prevalence of insurance law problems and a range of other problems relating to financial hardship including residential tenancy.

Key markers of the successful provision of assistance with such legal issues following disaster include a timely response, flexibility in delivering services and clear communication. Legal response following disaster can also be an important means of identifying systemic issues in the legal system, warranting reform.