12th Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference
Is our current state of knowledge in natural hazards adequately preparing us for an extreme weather event of a scale that is beyond our experience? The 12th Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference explored this at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra from 17-19 June 2019.
The conference stretched thinking on what is possible, and explored what needs to be done in natural hazards management to prepare for the future that we are likely to face. The 2019 Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference was invigorated with a new concept that gave attendees insights into research and policy developments over the coming years. Delegates at the conference helped develop a strategic view on whether research and formal reviews of natural hazards from around Australia, New Zealand, and across the globe, are providing us with the best knowledge to deal with the extreme hazards of our future.
The program was staged around an exploration of a scenario of cascading natural hazards: what would happen if a long-running heatwave and drought were to broken by a severe storm and widespread flooding along Australia’s coastal regions, with effects felt across the Tasman Sea into New Zealand? The scenario involved overlapping natural hazards that pushed our systems – both natural and constructed – beyond their limits to the point of failure, where many lives and livelihoods were threatened. The conference investigated how our systems would cope today with this massive impact, before examining how the same series of events could play out in 2035.
The program
This conference program started with a scene-setting opening on the Monday evening, as guest speaker Rob de Castella AO MBE, Director of the Indigenous Marathon Foundation, spoke on the role of sport and community in disaster recovery. Tuesday was dedicated to exploring the multiple impacts of the extreme weather scenario and how this related to current research and emergency management policies. Keynotes from Mark Crosweller, First Assistant Secretary, National Resilience Taskforce, and Jo Horrocks, from the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management provided an insight on the current national positions on disaster risk reduction. Wednesday then kicked off with an international perspective, with a keynote from Animesh Kumar, Deputy Head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, Regional Office for Asia and Pacific. The sessions that followed drew together all the necessary parts to take Australia and New Zealand into the next decade well prepared, focused, and confident to manage the extreme impacts of natural hazards.
The full conference program of keynote speakers and panels with topic experts and community representatives is available for download at the top right hand corner of this screen.
Participating organisations included:
- ABC Emergency
- ACT Parks and Conservation Service
- ACT State Emergency Service
- ACT Parks and Conservation Service
- AFAC
- Ambulance Victoria
- Australian Council of Social Service
- Australian Energy Market Operator
- Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities
- Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience
- Australian National University
- Australian Red Cross
- Australian Strategic Policy Institute
- Bureau of Meteorology
- CQUniversity
- Country Fire Authority, VIC
- Country Fire Service, SA
- Deakin University
- Department of Fire and Emergency Services, WA
- Emerge Associates
- Emergency Management Australia
- Energy Networks Australia
- Fire and Rescue NSW
- Inspector-General Emergency Management Queensland
- Geoscience Australia
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
- Insurance Australia Group
- Insurance Council of Australia
- La Trobe University
- LendLease
- Market Economics
- Massey University
- Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management, New Zealand
- National Resilience Taskforce, Department of Home Affairs
- NSW Rural Fire Service
- Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW
- Optus
- Planning Institute of Australia
- QBE Insurance
- Queensland Fire and Emergency Services
- Queensland Reconstruction Authority
- Queensland University of Technology
- Resilience to Nature's Challenges
- Resilient Organisations, NZ
- Risk Frontiers
- RMIT University
- United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
- University of Adelaide
- University of Canberra
- University of Melbourne
- University of New England
- University of Queensland
- University of Western Australia
- University of Wollongong
- VicRoads
- Victoria University
- Western Australian Local Government Association
The audience
The conference drew together a cross-section of many industries that are called upon to deal with the impacts of natural hazards, including those from research, government (local, state, and federal), fire and emergency service agencies, community and volunteer groups, health, insurance, finance, energy and others.
The program was designed to maximise audience participation and contribution throughout.
The 2019 Australasian Natural Hazards Management Conference was hosted by the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and sponsored by the Australian Government/Department of Home Affairs. The conference was supported by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, and Integrated Research on Disaster Risk, which is part of the International Science Council and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC is funded under the Australian Government/Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Cooperative Research Centres Programme.
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