Emergency management planners can now gain a greater understanding of how to lead more coordinated and holistic community risk assessments through Natural Hazards Research Australia’s (the Centre) latest Hazard Note, offering practical insights and guidance.
The document provides a plain-language summary of findings from the Community risk assessment project, led by The University of Sydney and supported by the New South Wales State Emergency Service, explaining that community risk assessment is essential when preparing for, responding to and recovering from the impact of natural hazards – but historically, is either led by agencies (top-down) or by communities (bottom-up).
The research team found that such a one-sided approach creates an incomplete picture of community risk and there are growing calls for a paradigm shift in community risk assessment.
Hazard Note 11: The planners and the people – bridging the gap in disaster risk reduction offers a path to more coordinated and comprehensive community risk assessments, complemented by a guideline developed by the research team that includes integration principles and a range of alternative definitions and measurements of risk to be tailored to local needs.