The Phoenix of Natural Disasters: Community Resilience, by Kathryn Gow 

(Editor), Douglas Paton (Editor). Nova Science Publishers (May 2008). 

Review by Kathleen M. Kowalski-Trakofler Ph.D., National Institute for 

Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh, PA. 

The title of this book, The Phoenix of Natural Disasters: Community 

Resilience is aptly chosen. “The Phoenix is a mythical bird that never dies; the 

phoenix flies far ahead to the front, always scanning the landscape and distant 

space. It represents our capacity for vision, for collecting sensory information 

about our environment and the events unfolding within it.” (source: The Feng 

Shui Handbook, feng shui Master Lam Kam Chuen.) There are Chinese, Japanese, 

Russian, Egyptian, and Native American counterparts of the phoenix. All of these 

birds are identified with the sun and depicted as rising from the ashes – living 

again. This is the essence of a community after a natural disaster – they live 

again. 

The Phoenix of Natural Disasters: Community Resilience is edited by 

Kathryn Gow and Douglas Paton who have done an excellent job of creating a 

relatively seamless transition between chapters with different authors. The content 

is organized well with the first chapter providing an excellent overview of what is 

to come and each chapter including an abstract clarifying the focus of the chapter. 

This book rejects the victim theory of disaster and embraces the 

development of resilient or adaptive capacities in the event of a natural disaster. 

In order for this to occur, the authors purport the need to define what resilience is 

and more importantly, how it can be developed not only in individuals but in 

communities. Further, they suggest that because a disaster affects all levels of 

society, resilience must be conceptualized and operationalized in a 

comprehensive, inter-related, systematic way. The aim of the text is to present 

topics that provide a broad overview of the issues that societies must address in 

the event of the unthinkable - a major disaster in a community. The contents 

include extensive research and practical experience of contributors from a variety 

of relevant disciplines and backgrounds. As a result, the book is of interest to a 

diverse audience including emergency management organizations, rescue 

agencies, the armed forces, researchers, academic institutions, medical, 

psychology, counseling and pastoral centers, and the media. 

The book is organized into three parts. Part 1 outlines an overarching set 

of principles that provide insights into the scope and applicability of the resilience 

concept as a framework that can facilitate planning and policy making in societies 

at high risk of experiencing a large-scale hazard event. With the framework in 

place, Part 2 focuses on those responsible for enacting plans and policies when 
disaster strikes. Finally, Part 3 examines the implications for the citizen and 

communities. In the final chapter, the editors provide conclusions which apply the 

learning about resilience and coping across service organizations, communities 

and individuals. 

In Part 1 theories and frameworks of resilience are introduced. Chapter 2 

outlines a model that integrates individual, community, and societal perspectives. 

This provides the underpinnings on which to develop societal resilience and 

identify core issues at each level. In chapter 3 the author proposes a theory about 

the connection between preparation, intervention, and rehabilitation. Chapter 4 

offers a psychological perspective on environmental hazards and disasters and 

frames how to facilitate psychological and social well-being for the individual and 

the community. The final chapter in Part 1, Chapter 5, offers a debate on the 

difficulties in measuring psychological outcomes of natural disasters. 

Understanding the implications of performing in a response role provides 

the context for the content of Part 2 which examines some of the disaster response 

field workers. Each chapter in Part 2 targets a specific population: paramedics, 

journalists, Emergency Service Volunteers and the military. These populations are 

discussed within the content of real disasters (i.e. Banda Ache) and include groups 

such as The Royal Australian Navy who risk their lives to rescue people in violent 

storms, floods, and tsunamis. Chapter 8, which discusses the volunteer role, is 

comprehensive, discussing the value of these citizens as a disaster requires 

resources that exceed those of any normal community function. The authors 

explore volunteer burnout and what keeps volunteers going – important factors in 

supporting volunteer satisfaction, training content, and retention. The fact that 

normal community functions may be unavailable for awhile after a disaster 

suggests that societal resilience will be a function of the level of self-reliance and 

determination of community members and their leaders. This chapter is especially 

helpful for those responsible for training, organizing, and supporting volunteers. 

Part 3, Community Responses, reports on research into the human 

aftermath of natural disasters from a community perspective of people who are 

immediately affected and through the identification of the core characteristics that 

influence a community’s ability to face the challenges of a disaster. In Chapter 10, 

cultural issues are addressed through insight into the new concept of 

Volunteerism in Japan. It would have been easy to ignore the importance of 

culture in the understanding of resilience, but the editors thoughtfully made sure it 

was addressed, not only in this chapter but in the contributions in this section. The 

important aspect of defining and understanding resilience through a cultural lens 

cannot be minimized. Chapter 11 provides insights into the demographic 

characteristics of resilience by telling stories of how both indigenous and nonindigenous women in the north of Queensland in Australia remain resilient in the 

face of their experience of reoccurring annual seasonal flooding rains that cut 
them off from provisions and other people. Chapter 12 provides various systemic 

models of resilience that have been developed in Israel since the 1980s. These 

models may provide blueprints for some readers responsible for future community 

disaster response. Chapter 13 discusses how research on preparation can facilitate 

resilience and recovery in a continually reoccurring natural hazard such as 

bushfires and drought. In memory of the victims of the 2004 Southeast Asian 

tsunami, the authors of Chapter 14 pay tribute to the survivors of this disaster. 

They discuss how impacted Thai residents were able to rise from the devastation 

and adapt to and cope with and experience a sense of psychological and social 

growth from their experience. These authors also discussed the unique challenges 

of researching resilience in cultural and cross-cultural contexts. 

The contents of this book identify core issues in resilience that provide 

substance for planners and policy makers to utilize in their own communities. The 

final Chapter 15 summarizes and presents a compilation of the competencies and 

capabilities that individuals, organizations and communities need in order to face 

natural disasters. One of the strengths of this book is that these capabilities are 

empirically based and grounded in real world experiences. The descriptions of 

disaster situations provided by the various authors provide the reader with 

concrete examples and a vision of how to implement these core resilience 

competencies in their own communities. 

Unlike some other books with chapters authored by different and diverse 

individuals, in The Phoenix of Natural Disaster: Community Resilience the 

editors provided a clear template such that there is a consistent thread throughout 

the book and integration of the ideas presented. It is easy on the reader. The 

reader could choose to review the first chapter, select topic chapters relevant to 

his/her interest, conclude with the final chapter summary and declare the book 

helpful and valuable to their particular needs. This reviewer does not recommend 

this approach, as each chapter contribution is valuable and is inter-related to the 

concept of resilient individuals and communities. The book serves as a basic 

primer on community resilience. 

The phoenix imagery suggests that one of the reasons the phoenix rises 

from the ashes and lives again is that it has the capacity for vision. Communities 

have the capacity, through research and experience, to look ahead, anticipate and 

prepare for what may come in the future. The Phoenix of Natural Disasters: 

Community Resilience provides us with some of that vision and suggests the 

importance of future research in this area. This book is recommended for anyone 

interested in the broad concept of community resilience.