Understanding Community Resilience: Resilience in the community response to the 14th June 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London

Sammanfattning: Community resilience is a highly relevant topic and the focus of much contemporary research, however it has yet to be distilled down to an exact science. The current thesis applies a theoretical framework for community resilience as an analytical lens when investigating the community response to the Grenfell fire and tragedy of 14th June 2017. Of particular interest is to uncover what community resilience entails, how it may be measured and the role of grass-roots, faith and local community organisations in fostering community resilience in post disaster situations. Examining these issues attempts to shed light on how to create and retain resilient communities, in good times and bad. In undertaking this project, first an extensive review of key terms was conducted through which to decide on a relevant framework. The research embraced interviews and questionnaires with a small sample of community members, and two leaders of a local community-based organisation and faith-based organisation respectively. In addition, the project reviewed a sample of 86 individual witness statements from the Grenfell Public Inquiry to understand the relevance of local actors in the response. Through analysis of the primary and secondary data gathered in this research, this report highlights which elements of community resilience are tangible and through which local organisations contribute immensely. This report also argues for the benefits of engaging with local community organisations in disaster preparedness, planning and response. Motivating the case that due to their trusted position within communities, these organisations hold crucial knowledge relevant in planning to respond and adapt to potential further disasters. They also present an opportunity for partnership to raise further awareness and promote resilience in our communities moving forward.