Cardinia Shire Council: A framework to enable community resilience and engagement

The proposed project was commissioned by the Cardinia Shire Council (CREM unit) to provide a framework and a suite of tools in order to improve the effectiveness of Cardinia Shire Council in terms of community resilience building and engagement. On the basis of the study, it emerged that the extent to which residents feel engaged in terms of emergency preparedness and response is very limited, with a consequent sense of isolation (differentially) across the three communities. The relative invisibility of these agencies in relation to residents and others in these localities, with the exception of the CFA, means that most residents overlook the role of the organisations (SES, Council, DHS, etc.). Not knowing what these agencies do and their purpose before, during and after an emergency might explain the sentiments of irrelevance, distrust or even hostility evident in the data.