“We’ve Become A Voice”
The role of community led action in the 2019 Gospers Mountain bushfire
Keywords:
disaster, community development, social capital, knowledge, powerAbstract
This article draws on thesis research to critically analysis top-down management of disasters that positions informal, localised responses as subordinate in relation to formalised disaster agencies (Darab, Hartman & Pittaway, 2020). This research project has focused on the specific experience of community residents recently impacted by the 2019 Gospers Mountain Fire in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. It has utilised theoretical understandings of community development to promote the knowledge of ‘ordinary’ community perspectives often excluded in disaster management. It has identified taken for granted representation of community as ‘vulnerable’, ‘passive’ and ‘receivers’ of information. Rather it has found that post-fire the community has actively built social capital. Social networks strengthened and took on new meaning as the community continued to be active in disaster planning and recovery years after the disaster. Increased social capital also changed power relationships through increased community representation and the development of a ‘local voice’. Self-organised and informal groups became better able to identify and advocate for their interests and engage in democratic decision making. This research indicates the significance of localised, contextual knowledge and understanding in fire responses. It argues that this knowledge should be equally included in formalised disaster management and planning. This research hopes to facilitate structural change in disaster policy and practice through shifting hierarchical power relations in disaster responses.
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