Why we shouldn’t expect people to ‘bounce back’ from natural disasters

Thousands of Australians may have been spared ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred’s full wrath, but experts say repeated emergencies and near misses are taking a toll on mental health.

While the danger is far from over and residents in northern NSW and southern Queensland brace for more flooding, others are starting to piece their lives back together, some for the second time in just a few years.

Lifeline chief research officer Dr Anna Brooks urges people affected by climate-related events such as Cyclone Alfred to be mindful of their wellbeing.

A boy kayaks in flood water in Tingalpa on Brisbane’s Eastside after ex-tropical Cyclone Alfred. While the floodwaters will subside, the mental toll of natural disasters remain.Credit: Dan Peled

“For a while, people can feel pretty good. There is the community response, and all the activity focused on the community which gives a sense of connection and purpose,” she says.

“People are comforted by the presence of the SES and maybe the defence force helping to clean up.

“It is when those resources start to peel back that people often experience a psychological response to the disaster.”

Last May, Lifeline’s Extreme Weather, Mental Health & Suicidality Report revealed that nine out of 10 people aged 18 to 24 believed natural disasters had taken a toll on their mental health and that of their family, friends and the wider community.

Brooks says it is normal for people to experience a range of thoughts and feelings about natural disasters. She encourages them to seek support if they start to feel overwhelmed.

“People can feel like ‘now what? My roof has a hole in it. I have to look after my kids and get them to school’,” she says.

“Kids add an extra layer because you are not only managing yourself, but you are supporting your kids through it.”

Routine is important but, Brooks says, parents will judge how their child is travelling and their readiness for a return to school, sport and hobbies.

Dr Anna Brooks, chief research officer at Lifeline, says it is helpful for children to resume routines after disasters, but the pace is best set by parents.Credit: Rhett Wyman

The focus should be on trying to get good nutrition, sleep and some movement.

“One of the things we overlook is connection to other people. Check in with a text to a neighbour,” she says.

Brooks urges people who feel overwhelmed by post-disaster admin such as insurance claims to seek help.

“When we are distressed, our ability to wade through complex information is compromised. We just don’t have the bandwidth to deal with complexity and filling in forms,” she says.

Murwillumbah psychologist Catherine Falco says that in 2022, when the community faced a “one-in-1000-year-event” five years after being flooded by ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie, there was disbelief and shock.

“There was a deep level of uncertainty. All the river dwellers had lifted their belongings but in 2022 the floodwaters rose so swiftly and unexpectedly high that it didn’t make any difference,” she says.

It led to anxiety as people who thought they knew the river could no longer be certain.

In her practice, she was seeing a 12-year-old who had lived through two major floods.

“It’s a pretty big thing when you are just 12,” she says.

A PhD candidate at the University of Sydney’s Lismore-based Centre for Rural Health, Falco is in the early stages of research into community-based interventions for supporting mental health in regions prone to successive disasters.

“A sophistication in disaster preparedness is developing within communities given the number of disasters we’re having to go through,” she says, adding that they also include being emotionally prepared for disaster as well as practical preparation.

When the community works together, there are better outcomes, but after disasters, people are reporting having to navigate large amounts of paperwork and bureaucracy under stress.

Bushfire recovery architect Nigel Bell says disasters are striking not once but repeatedly in the same regions.

“Due to climate change, there are new levels of disasters, including bushfire frequency, severity and unpredictability across much of Australia and indeed globally,” he says.

After Victoria’s devastating 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, which claimed more than 30 lives in Marysville, Bell facilitated the community recovery to rebuild the tourism town 100 kilometres north-east of Melbourne.

Bell says he saw people run the gamut of emotions from dismay, anger, grief, rage and everything in between. He cautions against rushing in to make big decisions immediately after a disaster.

“People who take time to deal with their trauma will often arrive at a better result and those who stay and rebuild are often disappointed because it’s not what it used to be,” he said. “Their lives are not the same.”

A principal of Katoomba-based ECOdesign Architects, he says 10 years after the Marysville fire, many of the original community had moved away. In some cases, owners waited until the burnt land greened up before selling.

“Newcomers purchased such land at a discount and then built anew, commonly thinking disaster wouldn’t strike twice,” Bell says.

Of the people he worked with at Marysville, he estimates about a third had no insurance and a third were underinsured. He says rising insurance costs and adequacy of coverage are a major cost of living issue.

Tenterfield Shire, in northern NSW, has taken repeated hits from long-term drought, bushfires and floods in recent years, punctuated by the pandemic.

Beef producer and Tenterfield mayor Bronwyn Petrie reels off the toll for her family business and the wider community.

“Lots of farmers have had repeat events, which is demoralising, but you just have to pick yourself up and keep going,” Petrie says.

“We are still fencing from five years ago because of the cost. Some farmers burnt in 2023 have had to stop fencing because they’ve run out of savings.”

Petrie says there is a heightened level of stress.

“We are still working through the rebuild. The community has been living with road detours and landslips for years because it takes time to get through the assessment and approvals,” she says.

Petrie says there are community support systems, but the best thing for the community would be to get fences and roads fixed.

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