IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/nathaz/v59y2011i2p699-723.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resilience, vulnerability and adaptive capacity of an inland rural town prone to flooding: a climate change adaptation case study of Charleville, Queensland, Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Diane Keogh
  • Armando Apan
  • Shahbaz Mushtaq
  • David King
  • Melanie Thomas

Abstract

Australia is currently experiencing climate change effects in the form of higher temperatures and more frequent extreme events, such as floods. Floods are its costliest form of natural disaster accounting for losses estimated at over $300 million per annum. This article presents an historical case study of climate adaptation of an Australian town that is subject to frequent flooding. Charleville is a small, inland rural town in Queensland situated on an extensive flood plain, with no significant elevated areas available for relocation. The study aimed to gain an understanding of the vulnerability, resilience and adaptive capacity of this community by studying the 2008 flood event. Structured questionnaires were administered in personal interviews in February 2010 to householders and businesses affected by the 2008 flood, and to institutional personnel servicing the region (n = 91). Data were analysed using appropriate quantitative and qualitative techniques. Charleville was found to be staunchly resilient, with high levels of organisation and cooperation, and well-developed and functioning social and institutional networks. The community is committed to remaining in the town despite the prospect of continued future flooding. Its main vulnerabilities included low levels of insurance cover (32% residents, 43% businesses had cover) and limited monitoring data to warn of impending flooding. Detailed flood modelling and additional river height gauging stations are needed to enable more targeted evacuations. Further mitigation works (e.g., investigate desilting Bradley’s Gully and carry out an engineering assessment) and more affordable insurance products are needed. Regular information on how residents can prepare for floods and the roles different organisations play are suggested. A key finding was that residents believe they have a personal responsibility for preparation and personal mitigation activities, and these activities contribute substantially to Charleville’s ability to respond to and cope with flood events. More research into the psychological impacts of floods is recommended. Charleville is a valuable representation of climate change adaptation and how communities facing natural disasters should organise and operate. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Suggested Citation

  • Diane Keogh & Armando Apan & Shahbaz Mushtaq & David King & Melanie Thomas, 2011. "Resilience, vulnerability and adaptive capacity of an inland rural town prone to flooding: a climate change adaptation case study of Charleville, Queensland, Australia," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 59(2), pages 699-723, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:59:y:2011:i:2:p:699-723
    DOI: 10.1007/s11069-011-9791-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11069-011-9791-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11069-011-9791-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janssen, Marco A., 2006. "Historical institutional analysis of social-ecological systems," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 127-131, August.
    2. Torsten Grothmann & Fritz Reusswig, 2006. "People at Risk of Flooding: Why Some Residents Take Precautionary Action While Others Do Not," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 38(1), pages 101-120, May.
    3. Trosper, Ronald L., 2002. "Northwest coast indigenous institutions that supported resilience and sustainability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 329-344, May.
    4. Garnaut,Ross, 2008. "The Garnaut Climate Change Review," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521744447.
    5. George Clark & Susanne Moser & Samuel Ratick & Kirstin Dow & William Meyer & Srinivas Emani & Weigen Jin & Jeanne Kasperson & Roger Kasperson & Harry Schwarz, 1998. "Assessing the Vulnerability of Coastal Communities to Extreme Storms: The Case of Revere, MA., USA," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 59-82, January.
    6. Linda Anderson-Berry & David King, 2005. "Mitigation of the Impact of Tropical Cyclones in Northern Australia through Community Capacity Enhancement," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 367-392, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pamela Box & Deanne Bird & Katharine Haynes & David King, 2016. "Shared responsibility and social vulnerability in the 2011 Brisbane flood," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 81(3), pages 1549-1568, April.
    2. Ravinesh Deo & Hi-Ryong Byun & Jan Adamowski & Do-Woo Kim, 2015. "A Real-time Flood Monitoring Index Based on Daily Effective Precipitation and its Application to Brisbane and Lockyer Valley Flood Events," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(11), pages 4075-4093, September.
    3. Chloe H. Lucas & Kate I. Booth & Carolina Garcia, 2021. "Insuring homes against extreme weather events: a systematic review of the research," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 1-21, April.
    4. Saini Yang & Juan Du & Shuai He & Mimi Shi & Xiaohua Sun, 2015. "The emerging vulnerable population of the urbanisation resulting from post-disaster recovery of the Wenchuan earthquake," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(3), pages 2103-2118, February.
    5. Muhammad Umar & Mark Wilson, 2021. "Supply Chain Resilience: Unleashing the Power of Collaboration in Disaster Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-20, September.
    6. Chloe H. Lucas & Kate I. Booth, 2020. "Privatizing climate adaptation: How insurance weakens solidaristic and collective disaster recovery," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(6), November.
    7. Md. Islam & Md. Malak & M. Islam, 2013. "Community-based disaster risk and vulnerability models of a coastal municipality in Bangladesh," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(3), pages 2083-2103, December.
    8. Ye Yuan & Ming Li & Congshan Tian & Yun Xu, 2023. "Measurements and Influencing Factors of New Rural Collective Economies’ Resilience toward Mountain Disasters in Indigent Areas: A Case Study of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-22, November.
    9. Muhammad Umar & Mark Wilson & Jeff Heyl, 2017. "Food Network Resilience Against Natural Disasters: A Conceptual Framework," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(3), pages 21582440177, July.
    10. Ying Wang & Hao Chen & Juan Li, 2012. "Factors affecting earthquake recovery: the Yao’an earthquake of China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 64(1), pages 37-53, October.
    11. Leo Dobes & Gabriela Scheufele & Jeff Bennett, 2015. "Post-cyclone emergency services: a cost–benefit analysis for Cairns, Australia," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 75(1), pages 869-886, January.
    12. Febi Dwirahmadi & Shannon Rutherford & Dung Phung & Cordia Chu, 2019. "Understanding the Operational Concept of a Flood-Resilient Urban Community in Jakarta, Indonesia, from the Perspectives of Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation and Development Agencies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-24, October.
    13. Kiah Smith & Geoffrey Lawrence & Amy MacMahon & Jane Muller & Michelle Brady, 2016. "The resilience of long and short food chains: a case study of flooding in Queensland, Australia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(1), pages 45-60, March.
    14. GoWoon Kim & Wanmo Kang & Junga Lee, 2020. "Knowledge Structures and Components of Rural Resilience in the 2010s: Conceptual Development and Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-20, November.
    15. Richard Franklin & Jemma King & Peter Aitken & Peter Leggat, 2014. "“Washed away”—assessing community perceptions of flooding and prevention strategies: a North Queensland example," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 73(3), pages 1977-1998, September.
    16. Paulina Aldunce & John Handmer & Ruth Beilin & Mark Howden, 2016. "Is climate change framed as ‘business as usual’ or as a challenging issue? The practitioners’ dilemma," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 34(5), pages 999-1019, August.
    17. Ting Wang & Linsheng Yang & Shaohong Wu & Jiangbo Gao & Binggan Wei, 2020. "Quantitative Assessment of Natural Disaster Coping Capacity: An Application for Typhoons," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-16, July.
    18. Laura Kuhl & Paul Kirshen & Matthias Ruth & Ellen Douglas, 2014. "Evacuation as a climate adaptation strategy for environmental justice communities," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 127(3), pages 493-504, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lianxiao & Takehiro Morimoto, 2019. "Spatial Analysis of Social Vulnerability to Floods Based on the MOVE Framework and Information Entropy Method: Case Study of Katsushika Ward, Tokyo," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-19, January.
    2. Sisira S. Withanachchi & Ilia Kunchulia & Giorgi Ghambashidze & Rami Al Sidawi & Teo Urushadze & Angelika Ploeger, 2018. "Farmers’ Perception of Water Quality and Risks in the Mashavera River Basin, Georgia: Analyzing the Vulnerability of the Social-Ecological System through Community Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-26, August.
    3. Loredana Antronico & Roberto Coscarelli & Francesco De Pascale & Giovanni Gull?, 2018. "La comunicazione del rischio e la percezione pubblica dei disastri: il caso studio della frana di Maierato (Calabria, Italia)," PRISMA Economia - Societ? - Lavoro, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(3), pages 9-29.
    4. Kym Anderson & Signe Nelgen & Ernesto Valenzuela & Glyn Wittwer, 2009. "Economic contributions and characteristics of grapes and wine in AustraliaÂ’s wine regions," Centre for International Economic Studies Working Papers 2009-01, University of Adelaide, Centre for International Economic Studies.
    5. John Foster & Liam Wagner & Phil Wild & Junhua Zhao & Lucas Skoofa & Craig Froome, 2011. "Market and Economic Modelling of the Intelligent Grid: End of Year Report 2009," Energy Economics and Management Group Working Papers 09, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    6. Rebecca E. Morss & Julie L. Demuth & Ann Bostrom & Jeffrey K. Lazo & Heather Lazrus, 2015. "Flash Flood Risks and Warning Decisions: A Mental Models Study of Forecasters, Public Officials, and Media Broadcasters in Boulder, Colorado," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(11), pages 2009-2028, November.
    7. Cai, Yiyong & Newth, David & Finnigan, John & Gunasekera, Don, 2015. "A hybrid energy-economy model for global integrated assessment of climate change, carbon mitigation and energy transformation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 381-395.
    8. Kaidonis, Mary & Moerman, Lee & Rudkin, Kathy, 2009. "Paradigm, paradox, paralysis: An epistemic process," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 285-289.
    9. Nigel Martin & John Rice, 2010. "Analysing emission intensive firms as regulatory stakeholders: a role for adaptable business strategy," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 64-75, January.
    10. Michalis Diakakis & Dimitris G. Damigos & Andreas Kallioras, 2020. "Identification of Patterns and Influential Factors on Civil Protection Personnel Opinions and Views on Different Aspects of Flood Risk Management: The Case of Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-20, July.
    11. Melese Mulu Baylie & Csaba Fogarassy, 2022. "Decision Analysis of the Adaptation of Households to Extreme Floods Using an Extended Protection Motivation Framework—A Case Study from Ethiopia," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, October.
    12. Sheng, Yu & Xu, Xinpeng, 2019. "The productivity impact of climate change: Evidence from Australia's Millennium drought," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 182-191.
    13. Eric Tate, 2012. "Social vulnerability indices: a comparative assessment using uncertainty and sensitivity analysis," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 63(2), pages 325-347, September.
    14. Hongbo Duan & Gupeng Zhang & Shouyang Wang & Ying Fan, 2018. "Balancing China’s climate damage risk against emission control costs," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 387-403, March.
    15. Nicolás Bronfman & Pamela Cisternas & Esperanza López-Vázquez & Luis Cifuentes, 2016. "Trust and risk perception of natural hazards: implications for risk preparedness in Chile," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 81(1), pages 307-327, March.
    16. Foster, John & Bell, William Paul & Wild, Phillip & Sharma, Deepak & Sandu, Suwin & Froome, Craig & Wagner, Liam & Misra, Suchi & Bagia, Ravindra, 2013. "Analysis of institutional adaptability to redress electricity infrastructure vulnerability due to climate change," MPRA Paper 47787, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Monika Winn & Manfred Kirchgeorg & Andrew Griffiths & Martina K. Linnenluecke & Elmar Günther, 2011. "Impacts from climate change on organizations: a conceptual foundation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 157-173, March.
    18. Giorel Curran, 2011. "Modernising Climate Policy in Australia: Climate Narratives and the Undoing of a Prime Minister," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 29(6), pages 1004-1017, December.
    19. Thamo, Tas & Addai, Donkor & Kragt, Marit E. & Kingwell, Ross S. & Pannell, David J. & Robertson, Michael J., 2019. "Climate change reduces the mitigation obtainable from sequestration in an Australian farming system," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 63(4), October.
    20. Raymond Markey & Joseph McIvor & Martin O’Brien & Chris F Wright, 2021. "Triggering business responses to climate policy in Australia," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 46(2), pages 248-271, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:59:y:2011:i:2:p:699-723. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.