Disasters on Disasters

The Disasters on Disasters program of work aims to explore how to best support people and communities through multiple disasters. It includes a comprehensive scoping review of international evidence, meta-analysis, a workforce study, and future work in communities.

This is an emerging program of work – please check back later for details.

If you are in a community that has experienced multiple disasters and would like to get involved in this research, please contact Claire at claire.leppold@unimelb.edu.au

Key publications arising from this work

Li A, Leppold C. Long-term mental health trajectories across multiple exposures to climate disasters in Australia: a population-based cohort study. The Lancet Public Health. 2025;10(5):e391-e400

Li A, Leppold C. People’s mental health goes downhill after repeated climate disasters – it’s an issue of social equity. The Conversation. 2025 30 April

Leppold C, Morrice H, Brady K, Reifels L, Abeysinghe S, Quinn P, Gibbs L. Recovery work in cascading and compounding disasters: A qualitative study of community recovery workers in Australia. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 2025;116:105152.

Leppold C, Gibbs L, Block K, Reifels L, Quinn P (2022). Public health implications of multiple disaster exposures. The Lancet Public Health 2022;7:e74-86.

Leppold C, Gibbs L, Quinn P (2021). Recovery from Multiple Disasters Factsheet for Bushfire Recovery Victoria. April 2021. University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Related materials

University of Melbourne media release 30 April, 2025. Multiple exposures to climate disasters leads to worse mental health outcomes

Lancet Public Health commentary on the Li & Leppold 2025 article: Lowe SR, Garfin DR. Climate disasters and mental health: directions for research, practice, and policy. The Lancet Public Health. 2025;10(5):e354-e5

Summary sheet of research findings from 'Recovery work in cascading and compounding disasters: A qualitative study of community recovery workers in Australia'

Investigators

Dr. Claire Leppold (Lead), University of Melbourne

Dr. Kate Brady, University of Melbourne

Dr Ang Li, University of Melbourne

Hannah Morrice, University of Melbourne

Professor Lisa Gibbs, University of Melbourne

Dr. Karen Block, University of Melbourne

Dr. Lennart Reifels, University of Melbourne

Phoebe Quinn, University of Melbourne

Funding

University of Melbourne Early Career Researcher Grant (2022)

Bushfire Recovery Victoria (2020-2022)