Relationships matter: the application of social capital to disaster resilience

The report summarises the inaugural Red Cross National Disaster Resilience Roundtable, held in Melbourne in September 2012, and which brought together 43 researchers, policy makers, peak bodies, not for profit organisations and community members, representing both emergency management and the community sector, to explore the application of social capital to disaster resilience. It considers social capital as a type of capital, like financial and human capital, that can be invested in and drawn upon; and it examines in more detail the application of social capital as a concept, to further understand the building of disaster resilience in individuals and communities in the Australian context.