8th Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference

CRC researchers featured at the 8th Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference at the University of Western Australia, on 13-14 October 2015.

The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC was represented by seven of the 23 presenters and by a special panel session to commemorate the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.

See the conference website

The State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) Secretariat of Western Australia hosted the 8th Australasian Natural Hazards Management (ANHM) Conference, with support from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC.

Tuesday 13 October was the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction and the CRC marked it with a special presentation at the conference.

The theme for the Day in 2015 was Knowledge for Life.

The focus of this year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction was on the traditional, indigenous and local knowledge that complement modern science and add to an individual’s and societies’ resilience.

The line-up included three excellent panellists:

• Prof Carmen Lawrence – Universtity of Western Australia, researcher on community perceptions of risk when experiencing hazards.
• Erin Fuery – State Manger Emergency Services, Australian Red Cross. Erin has worked with indigenous and remote communities in Western Australia.
• Anne Garland - Research Associate, Applied Research in Environmental Sciences Nonprofit in the US. Anne is working on risk management with indigenous groups in the US/Alaska and in New Zealand.

CrC presenters in the main conference were:

• Deanne Bird from Risk Frontiers on community resilience in disasters.
• Charitha Pattiaratchi from the University of Western Australia on extreme coast water levels around Australia.
• Kevin Roche from Risk Frontiers on why motorists drive through floodwaters.
• Yinghui Cao from the University of Western Australia on the merits of text versus maps for bushfire warnings.
• Rachel Westcott, doing a PhD with Western Sydney University, spoke about her work with animals in the Sampson Flat fire in South Australia in January 2015.
• Briony Towers from RMIT University on working with children and schools with hazards education.
• Veronique Florec from the University of Western Australia on an economic analysis of prescribed burning.

This year's conference provided a forum for discussion of the integration of hazard information into effective emergency risk management. Applying science and research information to best practice planning, warning, response and recovery capabilities will lower the impact of events on communities.

The conference brough together 209 delegates from Australia and New Zealand.