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More resilient communities
Better community resilience, behaviour and engagement for safer Australian communities.
Evidence on community resilience, behaviour and engagement means people across Australia are now better supported to withstand natural hazards.
Provided a national picture of community vulnerabilities
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Provided evidence on community engagement
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Supported decision-makers in disaster planning and recovery
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Informed national action and resilience investment
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Created evidence now used in doctrine
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Increased community resilience to bushfires through school education
The Australian Disaster Resilience Index's strength lies in transforming complex resilience data into accessible, evidence-based insights that can directly support policy development, funding, decisions and on the ground planning.
Evidence-informed ways of withstanding and recovering from increasing natural hazard risk
Centre-funded research has been used in many ways to enhance Australian communities’ ability to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to transform and recover from the effects of a hazard.
The ground-breaking Australian Disaster Resilience Index (ADRI) is a nationally standardised index of Australian communities’ capacity for disaster resilience used by hundreds of emergency services, government agencies, community organisations and businesses nationally. Now in its second iteration, ADRI has enabled users to identify resilient and vulnerable communities and use this evidence for investment prioritisation and resource allocation.
Evidence on the nature of natural hazards in Australia has informed emergency and strategic planning and provided insights around land use. Information generated by research we have funded has informed communities of risk and increased their awareness and preparedness.
At the same time, social research with communities has led to better understanding of people’s behaviour when faced with natural hazards, and provided end-users with evidence on how best to engage with people.
Many insights produced by this research have been incorporated into doctrine by emergency management agencies, providing nationally consistent and evidence-based ways of keeping Australians safe.
The Australian Disaster Resilience Index – an essential national resource
Communities are equipped to deal with natural disasters differently. Understanding varying levels of disaster resilience in different parts of Australia is vital for planning and investing resources where they are needed most.
Launched in 2020, the Centre-funded Australian Disaster Resilience Index (ADRI) provided Australia’s first nationally consistent picture of communities’ strengths and challenges. It incorporated a range of social, economic and institutional factors that enable communities to prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters.
Scientifically rigorous and peer-reviewed, the index was developed in a partnership between the Centre, University of New England and the National Emergency Management Agency, in consultation with stakeholders from multiple emergency service agencies. It was updated with additional datasets and released as ADRI-2 in 2025, containing updated resilience ratings for 2,330 statistical areas across Australia.
ADRI has become an essential dataset for national, state and local governments, NGOs, industry groups and researchers. It is being used widely across Australia in planning for action to increase disaster resilience.
- The measure of climate resilience used in Treasury’s Measuring What Matters report
- Used by NEMA in parallel with natural disaster hazard risk to support more targeted and coordinated approach to disaster risk reduction
- 657 users
- Between 500 and 1,800 unique visitors each month
- Used by hundreds of organisations in Australia
- Cited in policy documents internationally.
Research in action
Advice on managing animals in disasters
An Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience handbook on planning for animals is based on Centre-funded research showing animal management during an emergency is also critical to human health and safety.
Helping communities to recover
The Recovery Capitals research is helping relief agencies to identify people and communities’ unique needs after multiple disasters.
Empowering children identify their climate superpowers
Based on recovery capitals identified for communities’ response to natural events, this spin-off research is helping children overcome climate anxiety.
Schools in Fire Country enables kids to be agents of change
This program has upskilled entire communities to prepare for and respond to bushfire in Victoria.
Vulnerability assessments used to turn the power back on
As communities become more reliant on electricity, understanding where to prioritise investment is essential for power companies like Powercor.
ADRI informs national policy
Story of impact coming soon.