Some random thoughts. It’s mid October, serious fires are ringing Sydney. It’s out of the ordinary. the Disasters Database tells me that the earliest major fire in the so called season was in NSW in November. It’s Thursday, people got up went to work, as they do everyday, only for some return to nothing at all, other than heartbreak and misery. No last minute dashes to save the things precious. It’s all gone.

Sydney from the air is a beautiful sight. A friend posted a very eerie photo of Sydney from yesterday. Bushfires turn things upside down. It feels biblical, apocalyptic. I still remember Ash Wednesday. Had someone let off an A Bomb somewhere

I’m thinking about recovery in resilience terms. Shape our program from a resilience perspective, rather than delivering recovery services. THis is likely to blow the minds of the NSW Government, as the NSW approach to recovery has traditionally been pay a grant, pay a bigger grant to some people, and once all the grants are paid, recovery is done. We often had major debates at the national meetings about approaches to recovery. REsilience is a buzzword at the moment. I prefer to think of strengths and capacities, and supporting and unlocking those. But when in Rome, you need to speak italian. So we talk about resilience. Hopefully this will get our program noticed, and then we can do some good work.