As extreme heat once again blankets parts of Australia, the stark reality of climate-driven disasters looms large. The critical window for preparation is not when flames crest the hill, but in the calm before the storm. The communities that endure catastrophic events are often not those with the most resources, but those with the deepest connections.
The Cobargo Crucible: Lessons from Black Summer
This truth is etched into the fabric of Cobargo, a village on the New South Wales south coast that was ravaged during the Black Summer bushfires nearly six years ago. The experience forged a profound understanding of what genuine preparedness entails. Recently, at the SXSW conference in Sydney, Cobargo resident Zena Armstrong shared insights with Tim Cadogan, CEO of GoFundMe and a first responder from Altadena, California. His community was devastated by the Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025, which destroyed 13,000 homes. Despite the geographical distance, their shared lesson was clear: recovery is rooted in a level of community connectedness established long before the crisis hits.
In Cobargo today, the practical rhythms of preparation are visible. Hoses are unrolled, fire pumps tested, and water tanks filled. Go bags sit packed by doors, and evacuation plans are reviewed with neighbours. Batteries are charged, and two-way radios are prepped for when networks fail. Yet, these individual actions are only effective because of the collective foundation rebuilt after the fires.
The Social Infrastructure That Saved Us
This highlights a central paradox of disaster readiness: community resilience cannot be built during a crisis; it can only be activated if it already exists. The common narrative focuses on individual checklist items—clear gutters, stockpile water, plan your escape. These are vital, but they do not determine whether a community withstands the pressure or fractures.
In Cobargo, what proved indispensable was not just physical but social infrastructure. The existing networks—forged through the local folk festival, the cricket club, the Show Society, P&C associations, the rural fire brigade, and the surf lifesaving club—created a connective tissue that held people together when everything else was torn apart. These organisations provided the trust and framework for coordinated response and recovery.
An Urban Wake-Up Call: Disrespecting Boundaries
The threat is not confined to remote rural areas. Altadena, with 42,000 residents, is part of greater Los Angeles. The 2025 fires blurred the lines between bush and suburb, consuming neighbourhoods minutes from urban centres. Similarly, from flooding in Brisbane's suburbs to heatwaves in western Sydney, climate disasters are increasingly urban phenomena.
Yet, urban and suburban communities often lack the strong social fabric that aids survival. Being surrounded by people does not equate to knowing your neighbours. An abundance of services can sometimes mask a deficit in community cohesion, ironically increasing vulnerability when disaster strikes.
After Black Summer, Cobargo made a deliberate choice: to invest in strengthening the connections that would provide durability for the next crisis. This meant funding projects that brought people together, creating systems for collective decision-making, and building networks of neighbours who prepare in unison.
The investment is also in tangible, town-scale resilience. Solar and battery systems have been installed on community buildings to ensure operation during grid failures, with plans for a village microgrid. The community purchased 210,000-litre water storage tanks for the rural fire brigade, ensuring a self-sufficient resource after being left without power or water in 2019.
While government support for large-scale infrastructure and emergency services is crucial, policy must recognise that resilience cannot be imposed from above. It grows from the ground up—through neighbours helping neighbours, local organisations building capacity, and communities practising solidarity in ordinary times so it's steadfast in extraordinary ones.
The principles remain the same, whether in a small town or a sprawling suburb. As we face escalating climate threats, the defining question is not merely if you have the right supplies, but if you have the right connections. Not if you have a plan, but if you have one another. The time to build that is now, before the next catastrophic fire day, before the next flood warning—before it's too late.
