Reconsidering emergency management and indigenous communities in Australia

Emergency and disaster management in Australia is gradually moving towards a prevention-oriented focus that involves working with rather than on local communities. Such an approach, now frequently employed through the nationally endorsed framework of emergency risk management (ERM), involves the consideration of ‘vulnerability’ of individuals and communities. This paper focuses on emergency management in remote indigenous communities to illustrate how the conceptualisation and application of the concept of vulnerability is bound with our attitudes to, and understanding of these communities. It is argued that the uncritical application of the concept of vulnerability to indigenous communities will do little to build communities that are more resilient and better able to manage disasters and emergencies. The paper suggests that a focus on local understandings of risk, local knowledge of hazards and coping strategies is critical for the development of safer, sustainable communities. This will involve re-examining the role of emergency managers and the applicability of mainstream emergency management practices in indigenous communities. The paper concludes that emergency management must learn from critiques of dominant development strategies by accepting the value of existing capacities in indigenous communities and working towards relationships and processes that apply new strategies and ways of working.