Community resilience is the ability of a community to handle crisis and emergencies well. A resilient community adapts, evolves, and often becomes stronger and better prepared for future challenges. By preparing, working together, supporting each other and problem-solving, communities become more sustainable for the future.

Disaster resilience at the community level relies on sharing information, understanding, decision-making, responsibility and resourcing in communities and with partners, to reduce disaster risk and strengthen resilience.

Community Resilience Assessments were undertaken in six neighbourhoods to better understand the physical and social vulnerabilities our communities face in the event of a disaster, and how we can build a more resilient community. See more information about our Community Resilience Assessments.

An emergency is a sudden event that causes damage, disruption, and distress. It may cause injury, loss of life, damage to properties, infrastructure or environment, and may severely impact communities.

Examples of natural emergencies include storms, floods, earthquakes or fires. Emergencies can also be man-made, including accidents, environmental pollution or attacks. 

Types of emergencies that may impact City of Melbourne include: heatwaves, earthquake, storm, civil disturbance, terrorism, loss of utilities, major building fire, pandemic (Municipal Emergency Management Plan).

The City of Melbourne follows a multi- agency Municipal Emergency Management Plan, which covers how we work with other agencies and stakeholders in an emergency.

During the response phase (for example, when a flood event is happening) we are a support agency. This means we provide support to emergency services as required. The ways we provide support will differ depending on the location and severity of the incident.

During recovery from an event, we will work with the community alongside other agencies to support as required. The level of support and services offered to the community will depend on the severity of the incident and the level of community impact.

The City of Melbourne is working on a four-year Major Initiative on Community Disaster Resilience, which is included in the Council Plan 2021-25 to ‘engage and prepare residents and communities to enhance their resilience to hazards, disasters and the health impacts of climate change’.

The City of Melbourne is a global leader on climate action and sustainability. We’re working with our community to transition to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future, through key city-shaping projects.  Find out more about our key sustainability initiatives, including the Sustainable Development Goals, Heat Safe City and Power Melbourne.

To register your interest in being a Resilience Champion or to be informed of upcoming events and activities, go to the Community Resilience Assessments page.