The 2019-2020 bushfires and COVID-19: The ongoing impact on the mental health of people living in rural and farming communities

Abstract

It is well established that bushfires and other natural disasters have long‐term effects on the mental health of affected individuals and communities (Black Dog Institute, 2020). These effects can last for years as demonstrated following the 2009 Black Saturday fires in Victoria, Australia: one fifth (21.9%) of the highest impacted communities reported mental health symptoms at the five‐year follow‐up (Gibbs et al. 2013). The recent 2019–2020 catastrophic bushfires in Australia was nothing like we have experienced before (Morton 2019), resulting in unprecedented devastation across much of the country with current estimates suggesting 14.5 million acres have been affected (White & Gilbert 2020) and numerous lives, houses, and livelihoods impacted. The 2019–2020 bushfires in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania caused much loss of life and property, environmental destruction, and community disturbance (Flanagan 2020), leaving an estimated one third of Australians now affected by the bushfires (Morton 2020). The last month of summer in the Northern Hemisphere has resulted in bushfires affecting and almost destroying small towns in the USA (Newburger, 2020). With predictions that globally, temperatures will continue to increase with more frequent heatwaves and less rainfall (CSIRO 2018), bushfires are likely to be a more frequent event, and the consequences of them being more widespread.