Deconstructing the concept of shared responsibility for disaster resilience: a Sunshine Coast case study, Australia

Due in part to the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in Australia, emergency management has recently transitioned from a command-and-control civil defence structure to one promoting ‘shared responsibility’ between government, businesses, non-government, communities and individuals. The objective is to enable communities to become disaster resilient as opposed to fortified against risk. In this paper, using a case study approach, we examine whether this national resilience approach has been effectively institutionalised at the local scale. To do this, we draw upon the knowledge of those working within the traditional emergency management and community service sectors to identify which factors influence the resilience of a community in the case study location and determine which stakeholder classes are considered responsible for developing and enhancing each factor. The results indicate that all three tiers of government are still seen to be largely responsible for the case study’s disaster resilience; however, local community groups comprised of volunteers are also perceived to be largely responsible for disaster resilience despite obvious capacity and resourcing limitations. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015