Factors of resilience
Rebuilding homes, businesses and cities is a difficult challenge. Rebuilding the lives of survivors, the bereaved and the wider community is no less important. Emergencies and disasters are about people.
Supporting individuals and communities to prepare for and develop their ability to cope with an emergency will increase their resilience.
Resilience is the ability of an individual, community or country potentially exposed to hazards to cope with and to ‘bounce back’ from the effects of adversity. It is a process of adaptation, and also a set of skills, capacities, behaviours and actions that can be developed in each individual.
Being informed, being prepared and working together to build resilience:
- Acknowledging the inherent resilience of citizens and reducing their vulnerability to the harmful consequences of emergencies
- Maintaining and building national and community resilience by involving citizens and organisations as a cornerstone of preparedness, response and recovery strategies
- Enhancing social and community resilience through being informed, prepared and together in focusing on the human aspects of emergencies.
The human, social and economic benefits of building and maintaining citizen, community and organisational preparedness and resilience, include:
- Supporting the duty of responsibility of the state to protect citizens
- Providing a cost-effective solution to meeting the needs of individuals
- Building skill, capacity and capability and enhancing a sense of individual and community ownership
- Reducing the long-term impact of the incident on the individuals affected and improving individual and community recovery.