Last week the first news of winter floods hit the headlines.  They are unlikely to be the last.  But as natural disasters become a seasonal reality, communities will have to look beyond government clean-up operations and insurance companies to ensure their local resilience in the face of floods, storms and heatwaves.

One of the journalists' favourite human interest stories from the recently-devastated Cockermouth, Cumbria focused on the local pharmacy and the efforts pharmacists and residents have gone to to keep medicine distribution going.  There are tales of church groups feeding the emergency services and newsagents being set up in living rooms.  And in amongst these stories there will be countless tales of individual bravery and heroism.  In the face of disaster the residents of Cockermouth are nothing if not resilient.

Crippling flooding was one subject covered in Resilient Nation, published by Demos earlier this year, which argued that resilient communities must be built and organised by citizens themselves, rather than state institutions that get parachuted in during emergencies.  So when Gordon Brown promises £1 million to help with the clean up effort of Cockermouth, part of that should go to supporting community resilience networks who know the nuances of a town and area, and who best know the needs of their neighbours.

Flood defence matters, but when bridges built to withstand "a one in one hundred years flood" collapse as we experience floods that should only occur once every thousand years, it cannot be the cornerstone of a defence strategy.  People, as well as planning, will make Britain a more resilient nation.

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