Published works

Australia is exposed to a range of natural disasters including severe storm, fire, cyclone, flood, and to a lesser extent, earthquake and tsunami. These disasters have an estimated cost of $9 billion a year [4], alongside the more difficult to measure social impact on society and individuals’ wellbeing. Governments, authorities, and organisations dedicate significant resources to encourage communities to prepare for and respond to natural hazards. However, recent events, media attention, and ongoing academic research continue to highlight cases of non-compliance. Non-compliance can include an individual’s refusal to evacuate when a voluntary or mandatory evacuation message is issued, evacuating when advised not to, and travelling through hazardous areas when advised not to, to name a few. The consequences of non-compliance during a natural hazard can include personal injury or loss of life, and damage to, or loss of property. Individuals who fail to comply with instructions issued during natural hazards significantly impede the emergency response because they divert resources to compliance-enforcement, and risk the lives of emergency service workers who may be required to assist them. The consequences of non-compliance drive the need to understand how to influence individual-level compliance in a natural hazard, through more effective communication.

This project adopts a multi-hazards approach to examine the effectiveness of response and recovery communication in communities (comprising individuals, groups, and businesses) affected by natural hazards. The core project objectives are two-fold:

1. Develop methods to maximise the effectiveness of response and recovery messaging to the community during a range of natural hazard events.
2. Promote both community and disaster agency understanding of the legal motivators for maximising engagement with emergency messages and instructions.

Achieving these objectives will enable the project to deliver evidence-based message content to guide operational and communication strategy, and improve community understanding, decision-making, and compliance during the emergency response and recovery phase of natural disasters.