I just read this article. It makes sense to me that people who have been through catastrophe have a lot to deal with emotionally:

A new bushfire crisis is emerging as experts brace for an imminent surge in domestic violence

"For years experts have been studying the links between natural disasters and violence, with evidence suggesting events like earthquakes, hurricanes and bushfires can unmask or exacerbate domestic abuse, particularly against women, as a result of factors like trauma, financial hardship, unemployment and drug and alcohol use.

"In Australia, research conducted after Black Saturday in 2009 found there had been a reported increase in domestic abuse in bushfire-affected communities, with some women disclosing the crisis had triggered violence including in male partners who'd never before been abusive."

........
It's a long article, but worth reading because it raises a lot of complex issues.

In relation to this thread, here is a quote in the article from a survivor of domestic violence:

"Thinking through it now, the core of abuse is to do with power and control over another person, and when this monster of a bushfire came through, I think his feelings of control were threatened. He had no control, he'd lost all of his possessions, but the one thing he thought he could control was me, and our relationship."

My comment:

So that sense of powerlessness can be part of the trigger for domestic violence. Blokes are "supposed" to be in control, and be the strong ones, are "supposed" to look after their families in crisis, and the catastrophic disasters can make them question how well they are performing that perceived role, and they feel that they cannot just drop the manly facade and say, I feel bad.

If they are unable to deal with these feelings, and if the other blokes around them all seem to be holding themselves together (probably because they don't want to admit what they perceive as a weakness) then it is very difficult for any one man to say, "I feel like I failed as a man". This would be more difficult out in farming and rural communities, I think, because a lot of farming and rural blokes may not have ever questioned the traditional gender role stereotypes.

I know that this is a different perspective on the original post in this thread, but it still relates to a sense of powerlessness.

In the big picture, there are definitely no easy answers to the issues surrounding domestic related violence and abuse.