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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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'The trauma of the cyclone has changed us forever'
— self-reliance, vulnerability and resilience among older Australians in cyclone-prone areas | | Author(s) | Sandra Astill, Evonne Miller |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 38, no 2, February 2018 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press, February 2018 |
| Pages | pp 403-429 |
| Source | http://www.cambridge.org/aso |
| Keywords | Disasters [natural] ; Storms ; Floods ; Coastal areas ; Rural areas ; Adjustment ; Services ; Informal care ; Qualitative Studies ; Australia. |
| Annotation | The combination of population ageing and climate change is creating a new threat for many Australian coastal hamlets vulnerable to the impact of tropical cyclones. Increasingly, older people are facing future tropical cyclones alone, without support from family and friends, relying instead on already stretched government and authority resources, despite Emergency Management Australia's (EMA) policy expectation that all citizens must be self-reliant. This research explored the future self-reliance and disaster resilience of coastal hamlets through the lens of Social Cognitive Theory. It outlines the findings from focus groups, personal interviews and questionnaires involving participants aged 65+ living in townships previously affected by Cyclone Larry (in 2006) and Cyclone Yasi (in 2011). Participants recalled a lack of social support following the cyclones, a fear of evacuating their homes, as well as the trauma of recovering from such intense destruction. Respondents were also concerned about the physical, cognitive and financial impacts of ageing on their ability to prepare and recover from future cyclones, frightened that experiences from the past might be repeated in the future, contributing to feelings of isolation, frustration and the loss of community, and a rethinking of ageing in the place of their choice. These considerations affect EMA's expectation that all citizens will remain self-reliant when faced with a natural hazard, which should be considered when making future policy decisions regarding more isolated coastal townships. |
| Accession Number | CPA-180209207 A |
| Classmark | RG: RGH: RGL: RM: RL: DR: I: P6: 3DP: 7YA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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