SEMINAR: Flood Recovery in the UK

In June 2007, the English city of Hull was devastated by flooding which displaced over 8000 families from their homes. A real-time longitudinal study was undertaken to document the long term experiences of flood recovery. The study used an action research model to document and understand the everyday experiences of individuals following the floods. The project has fed into policy in a number of ways. It provided evidence to the Pitt Review of the nationwide 2007 flooding. Staff from the UK Cabinet Office Civil Contingencies’ Secretariat were very involved in the project steering group, which led to the development of good working relationships between the Secretariat, research team and a number of the participants. Several of the project’s participants have since set up as independent flood consultants.

Dr Rebecca Whittle is a senior research associate in the Lancaster Environment Centre at Lancaster University in the UK. She has spent the past four years studying natural disasters from a social science perspective. She is particularly interested in using ideas of resilience and vulnerability to explore adults’ and children’s experiences of longterm disaster recovery. Rebecca has also worked with CapHaz-Net, a European project on a range of natural disasters.

Dr Whittle’s presentation will be followed by comments on recovery in Australia and discussion.