Published works

Natural disasters in Australia continue to highlight the disasterous mediating impact of the built environment on communities. Built environment exposure is the major component of exposure to natural hazards. However, there is no comprehensive information system available in Australia that provides fundamental and consistent knowledge around the elements of exposure of buildings, infrastructure, population and businesses under different natural hazards and the associated risk. The absence of a robust and quantitative evidence base is impeding the development and implementation of strategies for disaster management policy and planning. This study is to develop a Australian Natural Hazards Exposure Information Framework (ANHEF) that links strongly with National Strategy for Disaster Resilience (COAG, 2011). COAG (2011) states that “Disaster resilience is the collective responsibility of all sectors of society, including all levels of government, business, the non-government sector and individuals. If all these sectors work together with a united focus and a shared sense of responsibility to improve disaster resilience, they will be far more effective than the individual efforts of any one sector.”

Consistent and reliable information on natural hazard exposure is crucial for disaster risk mitigation and evidence-based decision making. Exposure is referred to as the elements that have been, or could be, subject to the impact of natural hazards within an area (Middelmann et al, 2005, p.1). The elements that are at risk include buildings, assets, population, economic activities, services, utilities and infrastructure (EMA, 2004, p.48). Describing these elements in a nationally consistent exposure information framework will provide a reliable base to inform decision making for natural hazard risk reduction. There are few such capabilities in Australia to provide exposure information such as Geoscience Australia’s (GA) National Exposure Information System (NEXIS) and a database developed by Emergency Information Coordination Unit (EICU) in New South Wales. NEXIS was developed with an aim to support GA’s risk and impact analysis projects and provision of advice for climate change adaptation policy development through it is not comprehensive enough to underpin the entire spectrum of decision making for disaster risk reduction.

To manage the disasters effectively and efficiently, there is a compelling requirement to develop a nationally consistent framework for collection, collation and provision of expsoure information for researchers and decision makers.