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

Inspector-General Emergency Management

THEMES Five major themes emerge from the three events above: • planning, • public information and engagement, • information management, • evacuation, and • capability. Planning Plans and planning are a fundamental part of disaster management. In the response to Debbie we found some higher-capacity councils with good plans and sub-plans, and the capability to conduct robust event planning, particularly when time was available. Others with lower capacity or less experience were pleased to take up offers of support and guidance, provided by the SDCC and state agencies, to inform local planning and preparation. Risk

Integration of plans and planning

Such knowledge allows decisions on the level of acceptable risk to be made and documented ahead of any potential event. Decisions can be recorded with the logic explained, rather than arrived at in the heat of the moment. Planning for hazard mitigation Rockhampton’s hazard mitigation projects have been successful in reducing Debbie’s flood impact on the town. Building infrastructure back better is one effective mitigation strategy. Effective land use planning is another. There is scope to better integrate the disaster management sector with those at both local and state-level involved in land use planning. Business Continuity Planning Business continuity planning (BCP) can mitigate the impact of disasters by building business and organisational resilience. Debbie highlighted gaps in business continuity. Plans should include better links between Queensland Government agencies and businesses. Business continuity, communities and local critical infrastructure All communities have local critical infrastructure essential to their wellbeing. Its restoration can be a key enabler of recovery. The Debbie experience showed that such infrastructure is less well identified, and that continuity plans could be improved. Much infrastructure – and therefore business continuity – relies on power, telecommunications and water. Knowing about restoration times will help recovering communities. We found instances of insufficient knowledge of the power requirements of facilities critical to the community. We were told of local groups not always able to get local critical infrastructure representatives to their meetings. Broader understanding of the role of utilities would be enhanced by their greater integration into collaborative planning.

The importance of collaborative planning was demonstrated by traffic plans, following the opening of the Bypass at Yeppen. We heard from some other councils that managing road closures across

multiple entities remains challenging for the sector. Experience Event planning that builds on

known and practised plans to direct operations continues to be critical. In general we note that more successful event planning was evident in those groups that had understood risks, planned, engaged the public, and developed their capability. These groups activated early in readiness for possible impact, even when they weren’t sure if they would be affected. Planning for transition to recovery The Interim Queensland Recovery Plan set out disaster recovery arrangements for the 2016-17 disaster season. Recovery groups were activated early, while response was still happening. The state’s proactive approach was welcomed in places. Yet some had reservations about the quick transition from planning to implementation. Coordinating offers of assistance to affected communities appears not to have been as well planned centrally

Risk-based planning improves understanding of priorities for preparation and mitigation. In some areas the risk of hazards is well understood; in others it is less so, resulting in pressure on planners during an event. Queensland relies on an extensive flood gauge network to predict flood risk. Information from the network, and its efficient operation and maintenance, is vital for disaster management. While there has been significant investment in improving it, the number of owners, the range of maintenance regimes, the methods of passing gauge data, and the need for redundancy continue to produce challenges. In Debbie, perhaps the highest risk to communities was of storm tide inundation. Probabilistic models exist that can show decision- makers the chance of the risk in a particular area at a particular time.

during this event, but was undertaken by a number of agencies.

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The Cyclone Debbie Review

Lessons for delivering value and confidence through trust and empowerment