Understanding Disaster Risk national forums – getting to the heart of the matter

A new series of national forums will assist policymakers and planning authorities to socialise and embed the outcomes from the National Resilience Taskforce into practice.

The Understanding Disaster Risk national forums will focus on how to avoid natural hazards from becoming disasters by understanding vulnerable societies and peoples' capacity to cope during an emergency.

Guidance materials and reports, which were key deliverables from the Taskforce, will assist authorities to understand Australia’s vulnerability and to reduce climate and disaster risk. Communities play a crucial role in shaping vulnerability and minimising disaster risk, and support from planning authorities and emergency agencies will help to maximise the community’s resilience.

The forum will provide beneficial information for a range of sectors and delegates including emergency management agencies; insurance; business and government, to help guide their actions and use the research and outcomes.

It will ensure the common agenda set by The National Resilience Taskforce is taken up as collective action among key stakeholders.

The event series will be hosted by AIDR and Emergency Management Australia, which sits in the Department of Home Affairs. Events will take place in each state and territory from October. Delegates will learn about how better decision making, when guided by new forms of systemic risk governance, assessment and management are key to preventing and reducing risk.

The National Resilience Taskforce formally concluded in June, with key deliverables now available on the Knowledge Hub.

More information on the Understanding Disaster Risk national forums will be made available in the coming months on the AIDR events page.