Though the devastating flood disaster in south-east Queensland has moved into the recovery phase, experts say a new crisis is emerging.
Domestic and family violence support groups say natural disasters can unmask or exacerbate domestic and family abuse, as a result of factors like psychological distress, trauma, financial hardship, family disruption and housing displacement.
CEO of Logan-based Centre for Women & Co, Stacey Ross, said there has been an increase in incidents of violence, and calls for help across the region since the flood crisis.
"It's absolutely what we see … in the aftermath of natural disasters, violence and abuse can increase due to the tensions around financial job losses, that trauma increasing and people not knowing how to deal with the trauma," Ms Ross said.
"We're also seeing an increase in both the demand [in calls] and complexity of domestic and family violence [cases] … which is incredibly frightening."
Ms Ross said the lack of affordable housing in south-east Queensland was exacerbating the issue.
"We're seeing the impact of accommodation options being reduced," Ms Ross said.
"Obviously when there's a natural disaster and people are displaced, housing is going to be one of the first things that people need.
"Before the natural disaster, housing was already incredibly hard to come by so that's making the issue worse."
Police prepare for domestic abuse surge
Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said police were preparing for an anticipated spike in violence in the aftermath of the floods.
"We are expecting this, it certainly happened in 2011 and we expect it to happen this year," Commissioner Carroll said.
"So what we do is we anticipate this, we prepare for this, we start working with our partner agencies.
A Queensland Police Service spokesperson told the ABC while data was "still emerging", the region was "likely" to see both increased and new domestic and family violence reports.
"Research which exists internationally indicates increased violence against women is characteristic of a post-disaster recovery in developing countries," the spokesperson said.
Deputy Commissioner Tracey Linford said Queensland police officers responded to 120,000 domestic violence occurrences in the last financial year.
"Our people right now in the Queensland Police Service spend 40 per cent of their police time investigating domestic and family violence," Deputy Commissioner Linford said.
"We on average get around 320 to 330 domestic and family violence occurrences each and every day ... it's a lot.
"That is the scale of the issue of what's happening out there."
Link between disasters and domestic violence
For years, researchers have been examining a link between natural disasters and an increase in domestic and family violence, particularly against women.
In 2013, research concluded there had been a surge in domestic violence after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
A recent review of 39 papers on domestic violence, by researchers at Flinders University, attempted to explain why natural disasters were a catalyst for further domestic violence, in a bid to better inform emergency management policies and improve safety for women.
Tazrina Chowdhury, co-author of the review, said previous studies found the rate of domestic violence increased during natural disasters, while community attention was focused on "recovery" and "reconstruction".
"I looked into how women in New Zealand and Australia historically suffered from domestic violence during some prominent disasters – for example, during the 2009 bushfire and the Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand," Dr Chowdhury said.
"Evidently, call-outs increased … with victims saying they were being violated or assaulted by their partners.
"This shows the barriers that women face in accessing assistance from support organisations."
Dr Chowdhury said research suggested women struggled to leave an abusive relationship in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
"As a family, women often find themselves responsible for a lot of things and are bound to those responsibilities," Dr Chowdhury said.
"So they feel obligated to stay within the uncomfortable or family surroundings they have … particularly in times of disaster."
The study also found women of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background faced challenges in accessing community resilience programs as the federal government's management approach did not often recognise or include Indigenous gender issues.
Call for more research to create change
Dr Chowdhury said more research was needed to help inform what policy changes and strategies were required to reduce domestic and family violence after natural disasters.
"In the statistics, you cannot see what it is like to be a woman during this kind of situation so to better understand this, research should be done particularly focusing on women's experiences," she said.
"My recommendation is to consider women's backgrounds, where they come from and include their voice to better inform national policies and strategies."
Ms Ross said domestic violence service providers were preparing for a wave of people needing assistance and urged any victims to come forward.
"Never hesitate to reach out because there's always someone who can take that phone call," Ms Ross said.
