Urbanisation and disaster risk: assessing the resilience of urban communities in Auckland to natural hazards

Abstract

The increasing rate of urbanisation and the potential impact of climate change are expected to exacerbate human vulnerability to natural hazards and complexity in disaster management. The concern is more worrisome in a multi-hazard landscape and urban environment that is characterised by social, economic and cultural diversity. In order to cope with the expected challenges, declarations from international meetings on disaster risk reduction and disaster management have advocated a paradigm shift from reactive and vulnerability approaches to understanding how communities cope with natural adversity and investigate resources and ways to enhance internal capacities to expected challenges. This research investigated the capacity of the African community in Auckland to reorganise itself and function in times of unexpected challenges. This study used South African and the Nigerian communities as proxies for the African community in Auckland. In the course of the investigation, this research assessed the social, economic, and physical competency and communication resources of the South African and Nigerian communities, as well as their risk perception to gauge the resilience of the communities. Data for this research were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were the primary sources of data collection, and secondary data was obtained from the existing literature. The research used parametric and non-parametric methods of analysis for quantitative data. Thomas’ (2006) General Inductive Approach and a 3-step coding cycle, as explained in Saldana (2013), were used for interviews. A content analytical process of theme formation was used to analyse secondary materials. The study used the index method to calculate the contributions of variable indicators and domain contributions to the overall resilience of the communities. The research discussed findings from the data in line with the existing theoretical findings on hazards and disaster management studies. The research findings revealed a close similarity between the resilience of the South African and Nigerian communities. While both communities acknowledged the hazardous landscape of Auckland and their vulnerability to the hazards, they equally expressed determination to cope with the ensuing challenges. However, the practical capacity to cope with the challenges of a natural event would need to be improved if the community is to be fully prepared for future encounters with natural hazards. Some of the areas that need to be addressed relate to resources, risk information and sensitisation. Also needed to be addressed are community attitudes towards pre-disaster training and robust compensation. This research is crucial because it identifies the strength and weakness of resilience of the African communities under investigation. While this research may claim to lay the groundwork for investigating the resilience of the African community in Auckland, future research should involve other communities on how to improve their resilience and identify complementary strategies with existing research to develop an overall strategy for community resilience in Auckland. This research concluded by making specific recommendations to the Auckland City Council for consideration in planning resilience. The recommendations cover individual, community and official expectations in resilience building.