Understanding the interconnectivity of disaster experiences and embracing co-responsibility for sustainable change.

This project involves mapping the experiences people in the Townsville community who were negatively impacted by the 2019 North Queensland Monsoon disaster and identifying opportunities for tangible, actionable, cross-industry and cross-sector improvements to support disaster affected communities.

The two project phases as determined by Project Partners and participants were:

• Phase 1 - The experiences of residential individuals and small business
• Phase 2 - The experience from first responder and frontline service provider perspective

Community-led, collaboration-driven

We are especially grateful to the courageous, generous and inspiring people of Townsville who were committed to sharing their experiences - no matter how difficult - in the hope they could help make a positive difference for others facing similar challenges in the future. They epitomise what “better together” means.

Thank you to Founding Partners Symplicit, Energy Queensland and Suncorp, and the other TCA members from the working group including Australian Red Cross, Queensland Council of Social Services, Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand, NAB, the Queensland Energy and Water Ombudsman and State Government representatives.

Mapping the ecosystem

The Phase 2 research system map visualises the ecosystem of front-line services and how they impact the community experience of navigating a natural disaster event. It not only illustrates the interactions, challenges and benefits occurring at a system-wide level (across industries and sectors), but also within each of the industries represented in the research.

You can view and interact with the map in full screen mode here.

Awards

Phase 1 of The Disaster Planning and Recovery Collaborative Research Project was awarded the Best in Class for Design Research at the 2021 Australian Good Design Awards.