{"id":16647,"date":"2014-10-30T06:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T19:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=16647"},"modified":"2014-10-31T07:32:07","modified_gmt":"2014-10-30T20:32:07","slug":"improving-australias-disaster-resilience-a-national-imperative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/improving-australias-disaster-resilience-a-national-imperative\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving Australia\u2019s disaster resilience: a national imperative"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"441337055_727af4674d_z\"<\/a>As the summer months draw close, recent reports<\/a> indicate that we\u2019re in store for an \u2018above normal\u2019 fire season that\u2019s more active than 2013\u201314<\/a>\u2019s. Those forecasts are a solemn reminder that natural disasters in Australia can\u2019t be prevented\u2014and that their consequences shouldn\u2019t be ignored.<\/p>\n

Natural disasters cause widespread disruption, and are currently estimated to cost the Australian economy $6.3 billion per year. Those costs are projected to rise<\/a> (PDF) incrementally to $23 billion by 2050. Improving Australia\u2019s resilience will allow us to better prepare for disasters and assist in reducing losses, rather than just waiting for the next king-hit and paying for it afterwards.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, today ASPI launched its latest Special Report\u2014Working as one: a road map to disaster resilience for Australia<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(PDF). Building on the 2011 National Strategy for Disaster Resilience<\/em><\/a> (PDF), this report offers a roadmap for enhancing Australia\u2019s disaster resilience.<\/p>\n

There\u2019re a number of actions that individuals, businesses, communities and governments at all levels should take. In terms of strengthening federal\u2013state links, significant emergency management organisational changes in Queensland<\/a> and Victoria<\/a> create an opportunity to rethink how governments coordinate disaster management. Specifically, there\u2019s an opportunity to reappraise how the Australia\u00ad\u00ad\u2013New Zealand Emergency Management Committee (ANZEMC)<\/a> (PDF) engages with state government agencies. Reconfirming alignment between the work of ANZEMC\u2019s four subcommittees and state\u2011based groups would ensure that efforts are effective and not unnecessarily duplicated across jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

Along the same lines, Emergency Management Australia (EMA) should facilitate discussions among the states to identify national standards for emergency management. That would provide a means to achieve efficiencies of scale, improve cost-effectiveness and contribute to a national dataset of performance and operational standards. Such a dataset would assist in coordinating resource planning and inter-jurisdictional operations.<\/p>\n

EMA\u2019s mandate should also be tweaked. EMA needs a mandate from cabinet to lead the government\u2019s response to significant crises. That would give it the power to ensure that all national agencies are properly coordinating their emergency management planning. EMA could also be given a mandate to coordinate state resources when the requirement for disaster response exceeds any single jurisdiction\u2019s capacity.<\/p>\n

And we should prepare for the big one. Emergency management agencies need to plan for catastrophic disruptions to critical infrastructure. Problems of medical surge<\/a> should be addressed, including the establishment of national hospital standards for dealing with mass-casualty disasters. Additionally, we should develop a reliable nation-wide emergency communications system as well as a national approach to utilising unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in disaster management<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In terms of investment, mitigation needs to carry the day. Prioritising mitigation investment should be policy for all Australian governments and a key part of Canberra\u2019s microeconomic reform program. It\u2019s more efficient than spending over and over again on relief, and it works<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the massive sell-off of state assets<\/a> underway, we need public\u2013private management arrangements for critical infrastructure to ensure service-provision continuity. Direct engagement with private\u2011sector infrastructure operators is needed to more effectively incorporate industry into emergency management planning. Business liaison positions should be established in emergency management agencies, including EMA.<\/p>\n

We also need to invest in the next generation. First-aid training should be introduced into the national primary school curriculum because these lifesaving skills<\/a> (video) enhance community resilience. We should aim to train 1 million students annually. We also need to invest in the next generation of emergency management leaders by developing a tertiary-level curriculum aimed at professionalising emergency management.<\/p>\n

And we should recognise and support the contribution of volunteers to effective emergency management. An emergency management volunteer program should be established. That could be a one-year program during which participants work in a volunteer organisation gaining and practising skills applicable in emergencies, including in organisations active in the welfare and recovery side of emergency management.<\/p>\n

Disaster resilience is a responsibility shared by the community, industry and federal, state and local governments: building it is everybody\u2019s business. We need long-term thinking to increase the nation\u2019s ability to prepare for and recover from disasters. Unless we do so, the economic and social costs of disasters will continue to rise.<\/p>\n

Daniel Nichola is an analyst at ASPI and co-author, <\/em>with Paul Barnes and Anthony Bergin<\/em>, of ASPI\u2019s Special Report\u2014<\/a><\/em>Working as one: a road map to disaster resilience for Australia<\/a>. Image courtesy of Flickr user robdownunder<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the summer months draw close, recent reports indicate that we\u2019re in store for an \u2018above normal\u2019 fire season that\u2019s more active than 2013\u201314\u2019s. Those forecasts are a solemn reminder that natural disasters in Australia …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":206,"featured_media":16648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,306,1018,307,1017,390],"class_list":["post-16647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australia","tag-disaster-relief","tag-disaster-resilience","tag-emergency-services","tag-fire","tag-uav"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nImproving Australia\u2019s disaster resilience: a national imperative | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/improving-australias-disaster-resilience-a-national-imperative\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Improving Australia\u2019s disaster resilience: a national imperative | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the summer months draw close, recent reports indicate that we\u2019re in store for an \u2018above normal\u2019 fire season that\u2019s more active than 2013\u201314\u2019s. 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