Essential Toolkit for Resilience Part 1

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has developed a ten step system which acts as a checklist for making sure communities, cities and societies are able to bounce back from disasters like bushfires.

We will cover all ten essential steps and have chosen to include a short descriptive video. These videos are optional but will give you more insight if you wish to watch them

1) Organising

Communities need to make sure that everyone is involved in the recovery and resilience effort. This includes emergency services, social services, community leaders and governments.

2) Identifying future risks

By identifying future risks and keeping data on risk areas we can better understand what we need to prepare for.

3) Strengthening Financial Capacity

Having some funds set aside to support disaster response is a sensible way to make sure that future responses are not delayed. Investing money in reducing risks before a bushfire is also essential.

4) Ensure urban planning is disaster resilient

We need to make sure when building new infrastructure or rebuilding impacted areas that the focus is on resilient planning. An example for bushfires could include underground power lines rather than overhead poles.

5) Safeguarding natural buffers

Making sure that we build effective firebreaks (a firebreak is a gap in vegetation or other fuel load that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire) is essential to future bushfire resilience.