Take My Breath Away

Abstract

This article eschews the singularity of much disaster, crisis and catastrophe research to focus on the complex dynamics of convergent crises. It examines the prolonged crises of a summer of bushfire and COVID-19 which converged in Eurobodalla Shire on the south coast of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, in 2019–2020. We focus on air and breathing on the one hand and kinship and the social organisation of survival and recovery on the other. During Australia’s summer of bushfires, thick smoke rendered air, airways and breathing a challenge, leaving people open to reflection as well as to struggle. Bushfire smoke created ‘aware breathers’. It was aware breathers who were then to experience the invisible and separating threat of COVID-19. These convergent crises impacted the ‘mutuality of being’ of kinship (after Marshall Sahlins) and the social organisation of survival. Whereas the bushfires in Eurobodalla drew on grandparent-families in survival, the social distancing and lockdown of COVID-19 has cleaved these multi-household families asunder, at least for now. COVID-19 has also made plain how the mingling of breath is a new index of intimacy.

Wildfires and Older Adults: A Scoping Review of Impacts, Risks, and Interventions

“…Almost half of articles were either about a specific wildfire (17.3%) or a specified wildfire season or time period where wildfires occurred (25.3%). Wildfire events or seasons that were covered in more than one article included: wildfires and associated “haze disaster” in Indonesia in 1997 [ 49 , 53 ]; wildfires in San Diego, California in 2007 [ 31 , 33 ]; a 2011 wildfire impacting Sandy Lake First Nation in Canada [ 27 , 28 ]; California’s 2017–2018 wildfire season [ 43 , 47 , 97 ]; and the catastrophic 2019–2020 wildfire season in southeastern Australia [ 40 , 50 , 89 ].…”

“…Most of these used secondary, epidemiologic data such as hospital admissions and death rates to describe the health impacts of wildfire smoke and/or PM 2.5 (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns). Aside from morbidity and mortality, other articles described problems with evacuation, displacement, and/or issues with disaster response [ 27 , 28 , 40 , 47 , 86 , 87 , 91 , 96 , 97 ]; inequalities and vulnerabilities of certain populations to wildfires [ 29 , 77 , 79 ]; and general descriptions of health impacts without epidemiologic data [ 35 , 42 , 80 ].…”

“…Organizational interventions predominantly focused on organizations (e.g., long-term care facilities, rehabs, and hospitals) evacuation and/or disaster management plans [ 27 , 28 , 30 , 31 , 33 , 52 , 86 , 97 ], but also included treatment recommendations for providers [ 42 , 92 ]. Community-level responses included descriptions of families and neighbors caring for one another during acute disaster phases [ 27 , 28 , 30 , 40 , 50 ], and disaster management and coordinating systems at the community level [ 28 , 30 , 63 , 87 ]. Finally, many articles described traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) or Indigenous and Aboriginal elders as an important intervention for “hazard abatement” [ 55 ], as well as the opportunity for fire management institutions to listen to, learn from, and rematriate (e.g., return power to Indigenous peoples to reclaim ancestral traditions) [ 100 ] fire “management“ as well as the ethics of fire management agencies “using” this knowledge [ 26 , 38 , 64 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 73 , 75 , 94 , 98 ].…”

“…Two authors then independently read the full text of these 138 remaining articles. Of these, 75 met the inclusion criteria ( Figure 1 ) [ 18 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ,...…”

“…See articles with asterisks in reference list [ 18 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 …”