Whether it’s climate impacts like fire and flood or a global pandemic, disaster is no longer unprecedented.

So what do we need to care for each other well – before, during and after a disaster?

This is the question we’re asking, in partnership with our favourite visionary alliance of leaders, thinkers and practitioners at AUSTRALIA REMADE, for a research project about what’s needed to keep our communities safe and thriving in a disaster-prone world.

In recent times Australians have experienced the severe weather impacts of climate change, as well as a global pandemic – made more intense by the ongoing and less visible crises of increasing costs of living, unaffordable housing and more.

Around the country people have stepped up to care for each other, whether it’s doing the shopping for the vulnerable, offering up a spare room, fighting fires, filling sandbags, or minding children.

But we’ve also heard about how our most vulnerable have been left behind; and how unsustainable it is for communities to be left to pick up the pieces of broken policies and bad decisions, which not only create and compound these crises, but leave more people feeling isolated, vulnerable, stressed and at risk.

This project is exploring how we can better set ourselves up to care and be cared for well, especially during times of deep disruption. When business- as- usual falls away, what works and what doesn’t? What needs to already be in place so people can continue to get by, recover and thrive?

Building on the research report and findings, Care through Disaster further acts as a guide, through a practical toolkit, as to what we can do as citizens, community organisations, as well as local, state and federal government — to build a new infrastructure of care and set communities up to thrive.