Navigating uncertainty: community experiences of bushfire

This research examined how people directly affected by a catastrophic event respond to that event, individually and as a community. It shifts from concepts of ‘community-led’ or ‘recovery’ after an event to a more pragmatic view of community disaster recovery.

A catastrophic bushfire near Forcett, in Tasmania’s south-east in 2013 is used to examine people’s dependence on community and place to help then navigate the event. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to identify a model of ‘Navigating Uncertainty’. This covers three phases of ‘Losing the familiar’, ‘Restoring the familiar’ and ‘Living with change’. These phases illustrate how people experience the perilous situation where lives were threatened and homes, communities and livelihoods damaged or destroyed. In such situations, people’s decision-making and action are often underpinned by individual and collective values.