What is community resilience?
Working together is key when it comes to coping in an emergency.
The National Framework describes community resilience as: “Communities and individuals harnessing local resources and expertise to help themselves in an emergency, in a way that complements the response of the emergency services.”
In other words - how could you help yourself, your family and community prepare, respond and recover from an emergency?
Why is community resilience important?
Communities that have spent time planning and preparing are best placed to respond to and recover more quickly from local or wider emergencies. They can use local knowledge and expertise to identify and prioritise risks and put in place plans to mobilise local skills and resources in response to an emergency.
What are the benefits of community resilience?
- being aware of the risks you might face, and who in your community might need your help could make your community better prepared to cope with an emergency
- being aware of local risks and mitigation measures could actually reduce the likelihood of an emergency occurring
- emergencies happen but preparing yourself, your family and your community will make it easier to recover from the impacts of an emergency
- local emergency responders will always have to prioritise those in greatest need during an emergency, especially where life is in danger. During these times, and especially in those first few critical hours following an incident, utilising local knowledge, skills and resources could significantly reduce the impact of an emergency
Who’s involved in community resilience?
Everyone! We all have a part to play in creating stronger more resilient communities that can prepare, respond and recover from emergencies. Community resilience involves individuals, families, businesses and communities working with local authorities and partner agencies, community groups and volunteer agencies.
How does this link with the emergency services?
Community resilience is about giving communities the information, tools and training to be resilient at the local level and to work in a way that complements the emergency services. The concept recognises that in some circumstances the scale of the incident can overwhelm the emergency services and that working together is essential when coping in a wide-scale event.
