Collaboration, community preparedness and updated priorities for natural hazards research

Issue Four of Fire Australia for 2017 includes research on including animals in emergency planning, the launch of the new national priorities in natural hazards research, details from our annual conferrence AFAC17 and a Black Saturday case study that has developed guidelines for improved community messaging in bushfires.

Research from the Managing animals in disasters project has helped to improve community resilience by developing better ways to include animals in household emergency plans. While most pet owners consider their pets as family members, there remains a relatively poor level of planning for pets and animals, which can in turn endanger the lives of owners, animals and emergency services personnel. The project, in partnership with the Blue Mountains Animal Ready Community, has identified common issues among animal owners in emergency and will be used to develop a community guide to establishing animal ready communities. Find out more.

Back in July, the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC launched an updated set of priorities for natural hazards research in Australia. These priorities were developed through consultation with the emergency management sector through workshops across the country, from which were drawn four key recurring themes: shared responsibility and community engagement, risk communication, climate change and better predictions of hazards. Read all about the National research priorities for natural hazards emergency management. 

Our annual conference, AFAC17 powered by INTERSCHUTZ, was held in Sydney from 4–7 September in partnership with AFAC. More than 3,200 people from across the sector attended, with over 100 speakers across the three days. Recap the conference highlights here.

The 2009 Black Saturday bushfires were one of Australia’s deadliest and costliest disasters. A new industry guideline has been released by AFAC that uses the fires as a case study to improve community safety messaging. The case study outlines how this guideline was created from research findings of the Bushfire CRC’s 2014 Lessons learnt from the Black Saturday bushfires report, identifying factors that were crucial to the success of the project, with a particular emphasis on collaboration and relationships between researchers, end-users and emergency management authorities.

Fire Australia is a joint publication of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, AFAC and the Fire Protection Association Australia. Find this and previous editions of Fire Australia at www.bnhcrc.com.au/news/fire-australia.