First it was bushfires, then it was coronavirus - the disasters of 2020 have left businesses, individuals and volunteer groups trying to find a way to cope.
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Indi MP Helen Haines fears businesses will be forced to close because they cannot recover from the double financial hit of bushfires and coronavirus.
A survey of 390 businesses in her electorate revealed 97 per cent of respondents had been affected - they lost an average of 71 per cent of their normal revenue and 32 per cent lost all revenue.
The results also showed 35 per cent of the businesses have had to lay off employees.
"I am actually shocked at how bad it is ... To hear that directly from the businesses that we know and love across our region - these are members of our community who are demonstrating very conclusively how shocking the impact has been on them," Dr Haines said.
"It's inevitable that many of these businesses won't be able to survive."
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The businesses said they needed more government support, so she wrote to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Friday with suggestions.
These included tax breaks, innovation grants and no-interest loans for businesses; immediate funding for roads, rail and tourism infrastructure; and grants for events and other initiatives to rebuild tourism.
On the NSW South Coast, 2020 has also not been particularly kind to Andrew Stewart.
While the owner of The Inlet at Narooma on the NSW South Coast escaped the summer's ferocious fires, his business did not.
"Just in four weeks we were down $160,000 and that's based on last year's figures," he said late in February.
"It's not back to normal yet but we're starting to definitely see the people out and about and starting to have the confidence to spend money again."
COVID-19 turned that hope upside down in a hurry.
With the coast fire-affected from Jervis Bay to the border, the presence of all that the coronavirus pandemic has brought has only served to amplify the challenges.
Bega MP Andrew Constance said complacency during the COVID-19 crisis "would cost lives".
"This is as nasty and devastating as the bushfires," he said. "Things are going to get much worse.
"If we don't follow the instruction to stay at home, there will be disastrous, horrific outcomes."
Melbourne Graduate School of Education's Centre for Positive Psychology Professor Lindsay Oades told a Melbourne University podcast that it was an interesting comparison between dealing the bushfires, which have already happened, and coronavirus, which brought on a sense of anxiety about what could happen.
"For the people who were actually in (the bushfires), for many people it would have been quite traumatic," he said.
"That is of a different nature because it's widespread and it's still largely in the future so yes we have fear, but more predominantly we have anxiety - we're anticipating possible negative events."
He encouraged people to improve their psychological skills by observing thoughts, feelings and their body.
South Australia CFA chief officer Mark Jones has also written an open letter to mark the end of the 2019-20 fire season, thanking volunteers and staff for their work getting through the bushfires and then supporting the State Command Centre for Health in managing the coronavirus pandemic.
"Only days after the request came through, our teams were at SA Health to support them as they faced a health emergency of unknown scale and duration. We knew anything we could do to support them as the control agency had to be a good thing," he said.
"I dearly hope that more normal times will resume once the Coronavirus crisis has passed but South Australians can be assured that its Firefighters remain ready and available to answer calls for help whatever the challenges we face."
