Community analysis: some considerations for disaster preparedness and response

Keys, C. (1991) The Macedon Digest, 6(2), 13-16

It is a fundamental tenet of emergency management that there is no hazard without people. According to this principle it is the existence of a community which turns a mere event into something which is threatening in human terms and which therefore brings about a reaction. It is equally true, but much less widely accepted as an axiom that both preparedness for and response to hazards are greatly facilitated by an understanding of the community on whose behalf preparation and response are undertaken. Sadly, in some of our emergency service organisations there is no more than a rudimentary understanding of the nature and dynamics of communities and the relevance of a comprehension of community characteristics to disaster management. The cultures which have developed in these organisations tend to be hands-on and crisis-focussed in their stances; in general, they have paid little attention to careful examinations of the communities which they protect.

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