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Elana Siu (Reporter): In the aftermath of the recent natural disasters, Volunteering
Qld has organised the largest ever Community Resilience Conversation.
Host 1: I thought it was important to try to move on from where we had all been at in
terms of the cleanup, and see what else we could do…
in a more long term way.
Elana Siu: With over 30 conversations happening across the state, attendees swapped their
stories and discussed how together communities can build a stronger, more resilient Queensland.
Cat Williams: These conversations are laying the building blocks for community resilience
in each local community. That people are talking about community resilience, they know what
it is, they are meeting up with their neighbours and some people might form local action plans
and actually start building and enacting community resilience in their community.
Elana Siu: Participants chatted about their experience, what they have learned from the
disasters, and talked over ways their local areas can bounce back and be better prepared
in response to future disasters.
Guest: I think one of the big things that actually came out of our conversation today
was that there are so many levels of this, so we really have the big organisational component
of recovery or dealing with any situation, right down to knowing your neighbour and being
able to call on your neighbour.
Host 2: We needed to be able to communicate more effectively with each other, and that
could be really difficult in case of emergency, so we needed to probably bring the community
together before hand and be more prepared for events.
Elana Siu: Community resilience enables communities to cope in the face of diversity, engage with
unexpected change, grow and develop. Without it people cannot successfully recover, support
each other, or fulfill their basic needs.
Cat Williams: Community resilience isn’t a concept that is easily listed into clear
set of indicators, however one way you can tell if a community is becoming more resilient
in the face of natural disasters is simply communities who respond quicker and better,
and aren’t as phased.
Elana Siu: As part of the Natural Disaster Resilience Program, Volunteering Qld is running
6 projects that will continue to build Queensland’s resilience to extreme weather events.
Elana Siu, Volunteering Qld TV News.