IGEM Report 1: 2017-18 - THE CYCLONE DEBBIE REVIEW

The Cyclone Debbie Review

Themes

Our experience outside Debbie is that technology alone will not guarantee greater interoperability and information sharing. Those who own information must believe in the usefulness of sharing it, and trust that their interests will not be adversely affected if they do. We have seen some evidence over years that the beginnings of this trust exists. However, a major initiative is needed to support and encourage the trusted sharing and management of information for disaster management. Aside from reporting, considerable time and effort in disasters is spent trying to keep the many people involved fully informed. In Debbie, as in disasters before, the focus for briefings was the main teleconferences and meetings of the state’s peak bodies at SDCC. In general, these briefings given throughout the event were positively received by attendees, and the information shared was considered relevant and timely. The Gold Coast local group found the briefings very useful, as they gave the group situational awareness before the weather system reached them. We also heard suggestions for the improvement of briefings, such as: Briefings

A future strategy should consider the critical decisions that are asked at each level, the information that is needed to answer these questions, and the best way for each piece of information to be shared. At the time of writing this report, we were not aware of a future strategy for disaster management information systems being developed.

• The provision of briefings on the entire weather event and its impacts across the state were praised by local groups with time to listen and whose planning benefitted from the whole picture. However, some local groups – typically those most active – said they only had capacity for information directly relevant to their area and would prefer shorter briefings contextualised for their region. • Appropriate attendance was an issue at all three levels. In one case the increasing numbers in attendance created the need for follow-up meetings, attended by a smaller cohort, so that decisions could be made. Other briefings extended invitations to district but not local group representatives, requiring the information to be passed on rather than being heard directly.

• The most up-to-date weather information was on the Bureau website. Slide-packs, though convenient, were labour-intensive to prepare, took staff away from answering the many interested parties, were sometimes out-of- date when presented, and were not visible to all relevant parties. Greater use of the Bureau’s website and a pre-distributed set template of links to inform briefing participants have been suggested.

Finding Briefings worked well, but there is still scope for efficiencies in appropriate attendance and focus. In a dynamic situation, briefs get out-dated quickly. Live feeds are preferable – the Bureau of Meteorology’s website to a weather slide-pack, for example.

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6 THEMES

Information management: Interoperability • Briefings