Social and Behavioral Sciences | Open Access Articles

Measuring Community Flood Awareness And Preparedness In The Maitland Area And Lower Hunter Valley, Nsw, Neil Dufty, Amanda Hyde, David Webber, Ingrid Berthold, Elise Armstrong Sep 2015

Measuring Community Flood Awareness And Preparedness In The Maitland Area And Lower Hunter Valley, Nsw, Neil Dufty, Amanda Hyde, David Webber, Ingrid Berthold, Elise Armstrong

Neil Dufty

The Hunter River of NSW has a long history of flooding. February 2015 was the sixtieth anniversary of the 1955 Hunter Region flood, the largest flood in the region’s recorded history. In conjunction with the commemoration, the NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES) and the Hunter Local Land Services commissioned consultants Molino Stewart to extend previous social research in Maitland by surveying participants about the status of their own flood awareness and preparedness. The 2015 study and previous social research found that in Maitland flood-prone communities there appears to be a relatively low perception of personal flood risk. On the …

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What Is Disaster Resilience Education?, Neil Dufty May 2014

What Is Disaster Resilience Education?, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

Community disaster education, communication and engagement (ECE) is an integral component of emergency management in Australia and around the world. Its main goal is to promote public safety and, to a lesser extent, reduce damages. However, many governments around the world, including Australia, aim to also build community disaster resilience, with learning viewed as a critical mechanism. There is therefore a need to examine current community disaster ECE practices with a view to aligning them to the broader goal of disaster resilience. To attempt this, an exploratory research methodology was utilised to examine possible education content and processes that could …

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Recent Research In Community Disaster Education And Its Implications For Emergency Management, Neil Dufty Sep 2013

Recent Research In Community Disaster Education And Its Implications For Emergency Management, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

Community disaster education is an integral component of emergency management around the world. Its main goal is to promote public safety and, to a lesser extent, reduce disaster damages. However, there has been relatively little research into the appropriateness and effectiveness of the community disaster education programs and learning activities, including those provided by emergency agencies. This is due largely to the general lack of evaluation of these programs, the difficulty in isolating education as a causal factor in aspects of disaster management performance, and disaster education not being embraced strongly by the academic field of education. Compounding this situation …

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Towards A Learning For Disaster Resilience Approach: Exploring Content And Process, Neil Dufty Jul 2013

Towards A Learning For Disaster Resilience Approach: Exploring Content And Process, Neil Dufty

Neil Dufty

This paper is a first attempt to scope the possible content and learning processes that could be used in a holistic Learning for Disaster Resilience (LfDR) approach as a possible improvement to current disaster education, communications and engagement practices. The research found that LfDR should not only cover public safety aspects, but also learning about the community itself, including how to reduce its vulnerabilities and strengthen resilience. In relation to learning process, a review of learning theory found four broad learning theory groups - behavioural, cognitive, affective, social – that have relevance to LfDR. The research identified a range of …

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The Importance Of Connected Communities To Flood Resilience, Neil Dufty Jan 2013