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Is your neighbourhood underinsured? Search our map to find out

Even if you’re well covered, your area may struggle long after a disaster if most locals don’t have enough home and/or contents insurance. Search our map by postcode or suburb name to check your area.

Australia , United-states , United-kingdom , Glenorchy , Victoria , Australians , Australian , National-flood-insurance-program , Australian-survey-of-social-attitudes-au , Australian-bureau-of-statistics , Social-attitudes

'Top down' disaster resilience doesn't work. The National Recovery and Resilience Agency must have community at its heart

In the past ten years we have seen several major reports and announcements seeking to improve and transform the way emergency management works in Australia.
The National Recovery and Resilience Agency, announced last week and funded in Tuesday’s budget, is the latest.
After the 2009 Bushfires and the 2010-11 Queensland floods, the Council of Australian Governments endorsed the 2011 National Strategy for Disaster Resilience, which identified a need
[…] to develop and embed new ways of doing things […] to improve disaster resilience and prevent complacency setting in once the memory of a recent disaster has subsided.
Now, the new National Recovery and Resilience Agency will

Australia , Gippsland , Victoria , King-lake , Australian , Dan-peled , David-crosling , Sean-davey , Lisa-gibbs , National-strategy-for-disaster-resilience , Resilience-agency , Council-of-australian-governments

How the water and sewage under your feet could end up flooding your home (and what to do about it)

Recent flooding in the Sydney Basin pushed thousands from their homes and left others facing enormous insurance costs.
These events show how traumatic and costly it can be to live in areas vulnerable to disaster. Too often, socio-economically disadvantaged populations are disproportionately affected.
Some flood dangers, however, can be far less visible – to planners, developers and home-buyers. Sometimes, the danger comes from groundwater beneath the surface.
Earlier this year, for example, residents of the New South Wales town of Stuarts Point were evacuated and decontaminated after sewage spilled into their streets, as septic tanks filled with shallow groundwater.
These problems are not inevitable. Our recent report shows how changes to urban planning, building design and construction practices could reduce groundwater risks. That means better outcomes for residents, developers, governments and the environment.

Perth , Western-australia , Australia , United-states , Washington , Sydney , New-south-wales , United-kingdom , Pierce-county , Britain , Research-centre-for-water-sensitive-cities

Sydney's disastrous flood wasn't unprecedented: we're about to enter a 50-year period of frequent, major floods

Last month’s flood in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River region of western Sydney peaked at a staggering 12.9 metres, with water engulfing road signs and reaching the tops of many houses.
There hasn’t been a major flood on the Hawkesbury-Nepean for more than 30 years, with the last comparable one occurring in 1990. Long-term Sydneysiders, however, will remember that 12 major floods occurred during the 40 years before 1990. Five of these were larger than last month’s flood.
So what’s going on? The long-term rainfall pattern in the region and corresponding river flow is cyclic in nature. This means 40 to 50 years of dry weather with infrequent small floods are followed by 40 to 50 years of wet weather with frequent major floods.

Australia , Penrith , New-south-wales , Sydney , Indian-ocean , Oc , Sackville , Warragamba , Warragamba-dam , Nepean , Western-australia

Double trouble: floods and COVID-19 have merged to pose great danger for Timor-Leste

In flood-ravaged Dili, COVID-19 restrictions were abandoned as the disaster unfolded. But it means an already escalating pandemic situation may spiral out of control.

East-timor , Indonesia , Manila , Philippines , Tokyo , Japan , Seroja , Nusa-tenggara-timur , Laclo , East-timor-general , Jakarta , Jakarta-raya

Floodplains aren't separate to a river — they're an extension of it. It's time to change how we connect with them

Dramatic scenes of flood damage to homes, infrastructure and livelihoods have been with us on the nightly news in recent weeks. Many will be feeling the pain for years to come, as they contend with property damage, financial catastrophe and trauma.
But what if, for a moment, we removed the humans and their structures from these tragic images — what would we see?
We would see a natural process of river expansion and contraction, of rivers doing exactly what they’re supposed to do from time to time. We’d see them exceeding what we humans have deemed to be their boundaries and depositing sediment across their floodplains. We’d see reproductive opportunities for fish, frogs, birds and trees. The floods would also enrich the soils. Floods can be catastrophic for humans, but they are a natural part of an ecosystem from which we benefit.

Australia , Australian , James-gourley , National-disaster-risk-reduction-framework , Murray-darling-basin , Disaster-risk-reduction-framework , Disaster-amp-resilience-series , Flooding , Flood-plains , Floods , Rivers , Nsw-floods

Indigenous expertise is reducing bushfires in northern Australia. It's time to consider similar approaches for other disasters

Disclosure statement
Kamaljit K Sangha works for the Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research at Charles Darwin University. We acknowledge the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre (BNHCRC) support to fund our project on, "Building Resilience of remote Indigenous Communities" that included evaluating real costs and benefits of natural disasters, conducting workshops with Indigenous partners and scenario planning exercises with a wide range of stakeholders across the north (emergency management personnel, Indigenous communities, researchers, and various local organisations).
Andrew Edwards works for the Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research at Charles Darwin University. He receives funding from various organisations such as the Bushfire & Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, to map fires and vegetation and has worked on the development of the Savanna Burning methodology with a very large group of people.

Australia , Kyoto , Japan , Australian , Jimmy-morrison , Natural-hazards-cooperative-research-centre , Charles-darwin-university , Northern-australia , Darwin-centre , Bushfire-research , Waanyi-garawa-rangers , Kyoto-protocol

Unwelcoming and reluctant to help: bushfire recovery hasn't considered Aboriginal culture — but things are finally starting to change

Disaster resilience and recovery conversations are filled with mentions of “community”, but collapsing various groups together this way fails to acknowledge that people experience disasters differently.
For Indigenous peoples — whose experiences are shaped by vastly different historical and cultural contexts to non-Indigenous Australians — the lack of understanding or cultural safety demonstrated by government agencies and non-government organisations created additional trauma during the Black Summer bushfires.
The final report of the NSW bushfire inquiry found:
In some communities Aboriginal people felt unwelcome at evacuation centres and in some cases support services were reluctant to provide immediate relief… These experiences compounded the trauma they had already experienced as a result of the bush fires.

Australia , Australians , I-bhiamie-williamson , National-natural-disaster-arrangements , Royal-commission , Indigenous-australians , Black-summer , Aboriginal-victorians , Bushfire-recovery-victoria , Bhiamie-williamson , Aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people , Disaster-amp-resilience-series

Fires bring home climate-driven urgency of rethinking where we live – and how

4. The global community is watching
State and federal governments must commit to net-zero emissions targets. These would signal to industry and communities that there is a diminishing future for fossil fuels and encourage investment in a renewable future.
The fires strikingly remind people that we remain a global climate laggard. This will soon spread to our trade discussions and ability to raise finance for nation-building infrastructure and major projects.
5. Our settlements will need to change
The most vulnerable parts of our cities are in the urban fringes where there is substantial scattered development set in bush. Such homes are going to be increasingly vulnerable. As a result, owners will find insurance harder to secure.

Australia , California , United-states , Perth , Western-australia , Sydney , New-south-wales , Gospers-mountain , Tarnagulla , Victoria , Australian , Callistemon-wikimedia-commons

Why we should release New Zealand's strangled rivers to lessen the impact of future floods

Disclosure statement
Gary John Brierley receives (or received) funding from the Marsden Fund, Australian Research Council, Land and Water Australia (formerly LWRRDC) and various international collaborative grants (NERC in the UK, SPARC in India, Three Brothers funding in China).
Dan C H Hikuroa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Whanaunga, Pākehā) receives funding from Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga and the Marsden Fund. He is affiliated with Pūniu River Care Incorporated (Board member), Chair of Ngā Kaihautu Tikanga Taiao (Māori Statutory Advisory to the Environmental Protection Authority), UNESCO NZ Commissioner for Culture and is a member of the Watercare Environmental Advisory Group.

Japan , Rangitata-river , New-zealand-general , New-zealand , Waimakariri-river , United-kingdom , Hawkes-bay , South-island , Ngaruroro-river , Canterbury-plains , New-zealanders ,