Resilience is a property that emerges when something is exposed to adversity. People can be resilient too, otherwise we would find it hard to get through life.
Communities can also be resilient. By "resilient" we mean the opposite to "vulnerable". Community resilience allows a group of people to absorb the sudden change brought about by an adverse experience and carry on. An adverse experience might be:
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A group of young children killed on a pedestrian crossing
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A large local employer closing down
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A spate of teen suicides
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Major earthquake or other disaster
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The loss of a major service (such as the only bank)
We don’t think it is possible to ‘create’ resilience, because it is a combination of many things: beliefs; behaviours; and environments. But it is possible to create a good environment that will help communities become resilient. So for resilience to exist we believe there must be the right environment, plus there must be the tools in place to help create it, the behaviours have to be right, and all of this has to work together.
Resilient communities pull together when times are tough. By helping each other we have a better chance to get through the tough times.
Norris et al. (2008) described resilience as an emergent property that exists due to four "networked resources", namely Social Capital, Community Competence, Economic Development, and Information & Communication.
You can click HERE to read an in-depth introduction and explanation of community resilience.
You can click HERE and HERE to read commentary on the recent Aftershock television programmes.
You can click HERE to view this month's collection of articles or HERE to visit the archive of previous articles.
Contact the Trust | PO Box 24-520, Wellington 6142, Aotearoa New Zealand | info@nzrt.org.nz