When Does Response End and Recovery Begin? What Can Resilience Practitioners Learn from Academia?

Baxter, H. (2021) When Does Response End and Recovery Begin? What Can Resilience Practitioners Learn from Academia? Project Report. National Centre for Resilience, Dumfries.

Abstract

The aim of this research project is to improve planning and preparation for the more effective long-term recovery of communities, which will improve future resilience and contribute the Scottish Climate Change Adaptation (SCCAP). A series of semi structured in-depth interviews were conducted with expert stakeholders in community resilience. These interviews were supplemented by two online workshops with professional resilience practitioners. The following conclusions were drawn from this data and supplemented by the findings from the first phase of this two-phase research project. This project focuses upon community resilience within Scotland and the Scottish governments are guidance on community resilience. The argument is made that a response to an event is dealing directly with the impacts of the emergency and the aim of a response is to protect from and mitigate those direct harms associated with the event. Recovery from an event is dealing with the impacts and consequences resultant from that event having occurred and ensuring that the community is able to better protect and mitigate itself from direct harms associated with any subsequent events. Response and recovery occur simultaneously. What is happening, why, and the community’s perception of this affects their immediate reactions and emotional responses. A formal transition period which is part of planning and preparation and is incorporated into Scottish guidance has potential to address some of the key challenges raised by participants in this research project. Presenting an opportunity to engage with and empower communities, giving them time to consider, what their recovery looks like to them. The SCCAP program and its seven outcomes have a role in building communities’ resilience to natural hazard emergencies (NHE). Community resilience is a core part of SCCAP, which can be used as a framework for communities to use when considering how they would recover from the impacts of an NHE. The following recommendations have been made based upon the findings from this research project: • Guidance on a formal transition phase which is incorporated into category one and two planning and preparation is needed • Local citizen assemblies to engage and empower local communities in advance of any NHE or other emergency event to engage with SCCAP • TSO should be actively engaged with and encouraged to participate in local citizen assemblies • TSI should form part of RRPs and LRPs as part of preparation and planning for response and recovery • Response and recovery phases should be delineated by a transition phase • Engagement and empowerment of communities should be part of how category one and two responders manage a community’s expectations of, the response to, and recovering from an NHE or other emergency

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Project Report)
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Baxter, Dr Helen
• Authors: Baxter, H.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD61 Risk Management
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Publisher: National Centre for Resilience
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Author
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the Author

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
		When does respond end and recovery begin? What can resilience practitioners learn from academia?	Helen Baxter	National Centre for Resilience	NCR/UoG-2	IS - Interdisciplinary Studies