@article {bnh-8203, title = {Multi-hazard review of the comprehensiveness of Victorian urban planning for disaster risk reduction}, number = {700}, year = {2021}, month = {09/2021}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

The research undertook a multi-hazard review of the comprehensiveness of Victorian urban planning for natural hazard disaster risk reduction.\  It compared ideal approaches and outcomes with current processes, treatments, and systems.

The project focussed on the Planning and Environment Act (1987) (The Act) and the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPPs), in parallel with key supporting documents and processes.

At a high level, the VPPs set out some strong underpinnings for action to address natural hazard risks.\  Certain hazards, notably Bushfire and Flood are dealt with quite comprehensively. However comprehensive integration into the VPPs across various hazards and treatments is incomplete. Key findings are as follows.

}, keywords = {comprehensiveness, Disaster risk reduction, Multi-hazard, review, urban planning, Victoria}, issn = {700}, author = {Alan March and Leonardo Nogueira de Moraes} } @mastersthesis {bnh-8095, title = {Spatial planning to promote settlements{\textquoteright} resilience to bushfires}, volume = {Doctor of Philosophy}, year = {2021}, month = {03/2021}, school = {University of Melbourne}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Bushfire hazards can pose significant risks at bushfire-prone urban-rural interfaces and peri-urban areas, highlighting the need to manage bushfire risk in relation to settlements{\textquoteright} planning and governance. Settlements{\textquoteright} resilience to bushfires can be purposively facilitated by the development and application of bushfire risk management knowledge. Spatial planning has the potential to support learning about and acting upon changing conditions and new bushfire information to promote settlements{\textquoteright} resilience to bushfires. However, the translation of new bushfire knowledge into meaningful spatial planning practices has been limited and spatial planning systems often struggle to integrate bushfire risk management. Thus, this research aims to contribute to understandings of spatial planning ability to improve its practices by identifying, reframing, and putting into action new considerations about bushfire risk management to promote settlements{\textquoteright} resilience to bushfires.

This research used an inductive qualitative research approach employing two case studies: the spatial planning systems of Chile and Victoria (Australia). Qualitative data was collected from documentation, archival records, and semi-structured interviews. The data was analysed using time-series analysis, qualitative content analysis, and cross-case synthesis techniques. The research was divided into four stages, two stages correspond to the individual case study analysis and the remaining two to cross-case synthesis and discussion.

The research concludes that the Chilean and Victorian spatial planning systems are still constrained in their promotion of settlements{\textquoteright} resilience to bushfires due to internal and external complexities that frame and limit their ability for bushfire risk management. In Chile, there have been several mostly unsuccessful attempts to integrate bushfire considerations into the spatial planning system, thus the current system only outlines spatial planning mechanisms for bushfire risk management generically and inapplicably. In Victoria, the spatial planning system has partially and progressively improved its ways for dealing with bushfires, however, the current system still considers bushfire risk management partially and sometimes ambiguously. In practice, this implies that both spatial planning systems are sometimes allowing and even promoting settlements patterns that perpetuate bushfire risks.

Based on a cross-case synthesis, the research concludes that spatial planning instruments that comprehensively address bushfires are necessary, suggesting an integrated approach that undertakes bushfire risk management at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels of planning mechanisms and processes. This approach establishes the instruments{\textquoteright} role in bushfire risk management and other factors that provide directions for improving their ability to promote settlements{\textquoteright} resilience to bushfire. Furthermore, the research also concludes that reflexive processes are not always conducive to the development and improvement of spatial planning systems for bushfire risk management, due to the variance of willingness, understanding, and capacity issues within the system and in the wider context. Accordingly, thesis propositions about the barriers and facilitators that influence spatial planning progressing from the identification, to the reframing and implementation of change about bushfire risk management were suggested.

}, keywords = {Bushfire, disaster risk managemet, Disaster risk reduction, resilience, spatial planning, urban planning, Wildfire}, url = {https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/267371}, author = {Constanza Gonzalez-Mathiesen} } @article {bnh-7138, title = {The Australian Disaster Resilience Index: a summary}, number = {588.2020}, year = {2020}, month = {07/2020}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Natural hazards, such as bushfires, cyclones, floods, storms, heatwaves, earthquakes and tsunamis, have always occurred and will continue to occur in Australia. These natural hazards frequently intersect with human societies to create natural hazard emergencies that, in turn, cause disasters.

The effects of natural hazards on Australian communities are influenced by a unique combination of social, economic, natural environment, built environment, governance and geographical factors.

Australian communities face increasing losses and disruption from natural hazards, with the total economic cost of natural hazards in Australia averaging $18.2 billion per year between 2006 and 2016 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2017). This is expected to almost double by 2030 and to average $33 billion per year by 2050 (Deloitte Access Economics, 2016). The social impacts of disasters are also substantial. Costs associated with social impacts may persist over a person{\textquoteright}s lifetime and can be greater than the costs of tangible damages (Deloitte Access Economics, 2016).

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of some natural hazard types in Australia (BOM \& CSIRO, 2018). An increasing population, demographic change, widening socio-economic disparity, expensive infrastructure and the location of\  communities in areas of high natural hazard risk also contributes to the potential for increasing losses from natural hazards.

There are two prominent schools of thought about the influence of natural hazards in human societies:

This resilience perspective has been adopted in the Australian Disaster Resilience Index, with the aim of better understanding and assessing the disaster resilience of Australian communities nationwide.

As such, disaster resilience can be understood as a protective characteristic that acts to reduce the effects of, and losses from, natural hazards. Resilience arises from the capacities of social, economic and government systems to prepare for, respond to and recover from a natural hazard event, and to learn, adapt and transform in anticipation of future natural hazard events.

}, keywords = {communities, Disaster risk reduction, emergencies, Emergency, Natural hazards, people, resilience, risk, risk reduction}, isbn = {978-0-6482756-6-4}, issn = {588.2020}, author = {Melissa Parsons and Ian Reeve and James McGregor and Graham Marshall and Richard Stayner and Judith McNeill and Peter Hastings and Sonya Glavac and Phil Morley} } @article {bnh-6986, title = {Building best practice in child-centred disaster risk reduction: annual project report 2018-2019}, number = {575}, year = {2020}, month = {06/2020}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

Emerging as a distinct approach to disaster risk reduction (DRR) over the last 15 years, the primary objective of Child-Centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR) is to strengthen children{\textquoteright}s knowledge and skills so that they understand the disaster risks that exist in their communities and can take a lead role in reducing those risks. In the Australian context, the most commonly practiced form of CCDRR is school-based Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Education (DRRRE).

To support the delivery of effective and sustainable in DRRRE in Australian schools, research conducted in the first phase of this project (2014-2017) was focused on the development of guiding models and frameworks and the evaluation and redevelopment of End-User DRRRE programs and resources.

For second phase of the project (2017-2020), the focus has shifted toward school-led DRRRE programs and initiatives, which will enable bottom-up processes to inform end-user policy and practice. The project is also addressing the vexing issue of scaled implementation through the development of an evidence-based national framework which brings together the concerns and priorities of emergency management agencies and the education sector.\ 

This Annual Report provides a summary of progress to date, including a discussion of how cumulative research outputs from the first four years of the project are being utilised by End-User agencies to inform DRRRE program design, implementation and evaluation. It then provides the details on the various research activities which comprise the 2017-2020 research program, including:

  1. Project-based learning for disaster risk reduction and resilience: an explanatory case study from Harkaway Primary School;
  2. Descriptive case studies of good practice in DRRRE;
  3. A national study of DRRRE implementation: the 3Rs of disaster education;
  4. The redevelopment of the DRRRE Practice Framework.

The report also includes a summary of current PhD projects and a comprehensive list of publications that have been produced over the course of the project.

}, keywords = {child-centred, Disaster risk reduction, education, practice}, issn = {575}, author = {Briony Towers} } @mastersthesis {bnh-8160, title = {Disaster risk reduction education for children: a study in Bangladesh engaging children as co-researchers}, volume = {Doctor of Philosophy}, year = {2020}, month = {10/2020}, pages = {379}, school = {CQUniversity}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

In the last decade, a number of studies have been conducted on different types of disaster education programs for children. These studies suggest that such programs enable children to be more resilient, not only in terms of increased knowledge on disaster risk reduction (DRR) but also increased preparedness and confidence. However, despite the positive findings, significant challenges still remain. In spite of generating effective DRR outcomes, the area of program development and evaluation lacks a guiding model. This includes one that speaks to both effectiveness and sustainable implementation. Disaster education programs for children are mostly designed and implemented by non-formal educators such as development and humanitarian agencies. As a result, the literature is primarily based on the evaluation of programs (such as those of Non-Government Organisations or NGOs). Many of these have been identified as having significant methodological limitations. Studies to date also typically rely on DRR knowledge indicators and do not identify the explicit elements of the programs responsible for generating specific positive outcomes. None of the studies has sought direct opinion from children regarding the process, efficacy and outcomes of such programs.\ 

Thus, this study aims to conduct rigorously designed research on DRR education for children in Bangladesh by involving children{\textquoteright}s active input and participation. In so doing, it aims to identify the specific elements of the DRR education programs for children that produce positive outcomes. Another aim is to examine implementation factors, including those structural and process factors that facilitate rather than impede sustainable implementation and child-participation.\ 

Considering the role of active child participation in this research, this study sought to empower the children by engaging them as co-researchers. Since the power inequalities between child participants and adult researchers are inevitable for obvious reasons such as age gap, lack of experience of children in the field of research and, above all, the accountability mechanism in academia, child-participation literature recommends the intriguing idea of seeking children{\textquoteright}s assistance in understanding their perspectives, instead of merely regarding them as research objects. This study therefore fostered children as co-researchers by involving them in various research activities, ranging from data collection to analysis, and importantly, in documenting the findings. To more effectively minimise the power differential, the study incorporated child-friendly methods and techniques that are built on children{\textquoteright}s competencies and interests and ensured that the children had support from each other.\ 

This study makes a significant contribution to our theoretical understanding of DRR education for children by exploring its related challenges and achievements. It provides evidence for improvements in relevant policy and practice. The recommendations made by the child co-researchers can be used as guiding principles in the design and implementation of child-centred DRR education programs in Bangladesh. Most importantly, by bringing children on board as co-researchers, this study provides a framework for engaging children in research on disasters. It therefore encourages future researchers to empower children as co-researchers and foster their genuine participation in research.\ 

}, keywords = {Bangladesh, child-centred, children, co-researchers, Disaster risk reduction, education}, author = {Mayeda Rashid} } @article {bnh-7837, title = {Disaster Risk Reduction in Bushfire Prone Areas: Challenges for an Integrated Land Use Planning Policy Regime}, journal = {Sustainability}, volume = {12}, year = {2020}, month = {12/2020}, abstract = {

The need for an integrated approach to disaster risk reduction (DRR) is widely promoted across the contemporary disaster literature and policy discourse. In Australia, the importance of integrating bushfire management and land use planning systems is a growing priority as bushfire risk in urbanized areas increases. This paper examines the changing policy landscape towards an integrated DRR regime for land use planning and bushfire management in south-west Western Australia. The research is based on a qualitative analysis of policy documents and in-depth interviews with policy actors associated with this regime. The results identify several challenges of policy integration for an integrated land use planning and bushfire management DRR regime, including incompatible worldviews, sectorial objectives and knowledge sets. A lack of cross-sectoral understanding, different risk tolerances and instrument preferences also constrained integration efforts. Based on our findings, we argue that rule-based mechanisms, which establish a legal framework for integration, are necessary when different policy goals and worldviews prevail between policy sectors. However, we conclude by emphasizing the value of actor-based mechanisms for integrated DRR policy regimes, which enable ongoing cross-sectoral communication and policy learning and facilitate a systems-oriented perspective of disaster resilience in the built environment.

}, keywords = {bushfire management, Disaster risk reduction, land use planning, policy integration, resilience}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410496}, url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10496/htm}, author = {Simone Ruane and Mohammad Shahidul Hasan Swapan and Courtney Babb} } @article {bnh-7165, title = {Implementing research to support disaster risk reduction}, journal = { Australian Journal of Emergency Management}, volume = {35}, year = {2020}, month = {07/2020}, pages = {54-61}, abstract = {

One of the challenges facing disaster risk reduction is the gap between research and practice. Despite the considerable investment in publicly funded and commissioned disaster risk reduction research, the application of research findings to operational practice often lags, if implemented at all. This paper addresses the need to understand the antecedents of implementation and identifies activities involved in the research utilisation process. This paper reports on findings that led to the development of a research utilisation maturity matrix that encompasses four levels of maturity being: basic, developing, established and leading. This study involved collaboration and discussion with emergency services practitioners and a conceptual model of the elements needed to support implementation of research was identified. This model suggests that the four elements play key roles in effective implementation. The study gathered information from emergency services practitioners and their stakeholders about the meaning of the research findings and what, if anything, needed to change. The study{\textquoteright}s findings can help emergency services personnel assess organisational practices to improve research utilisation within the emergency sector and contribute to greater disaster risk reduction outcomes.

}, keywords = {Disaster risk reduction, Research utilisation}, url = {https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-july-2020-implementing-research-to-support-disaster-risk-reduction/}, author = {Owen, Christine and Noreen Krusel and Loriana Bethune} } @article {bnh-6246, title = {Working outside {\textquoteleft}the rules{\textquoteright}: Opportunities and challenges of community participation in risk reduction}, journal = {International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction}, volume = {44}, year = {2020}, month = {04/2020}, abstract = {

Research has shown that greater community action is needed for effective risk reduction. Community participation in risk reduction ranges from action that is initiated and led by members of the public, independently of government assistance, to those that are initiated and facilitated by government and non-government organisations. Natural hazards research has demonstrated that despite awareness of and a desire to reduce risk, many community members lack the physical, psychological or financial capacity to take action. This is particularly the case for bushfires, where preparations can be costly and physically demanding. In response to this, Fire and Rescue New South Wales (FRNSW) established the Community Fire Unit (CFU) program. CFUs are groups of residents who are provided with education, training and equipment to enable them to reduce risks around their homes through enhanced preparation and some bushfire defence. This paper examines the experiences and views of CFU members after bushfires in the Blue Mountains, NSW in October 2013. The majority of respondents believed that their participation in the CFU program reduced bushfire risk and led to a greater sense of community and social capital in their local area. However, the research revealed challenges associated with participating within the formal, top-down structures of a professional fire brigade. Respondents therefore considered that greater flexibility was needed with simultaneously greater support and autonomy from FRNSW. The paper explores the experiences, challenges and opportunities presented by a top-down community based risk reduction program and considers the implications for community participation in risk reduction more generally.

}, keywords = {Bushfire, Community participation, Disaster risk reduction, hazard, Wildfire}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101396}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420919304832?dgcid=author}, author = {Katharine Haynes and Deanne Bird and J Whittaker} } @article {bnh-5479, title = {The disaster resilience project: a school-based feasibility and acceptability study}, number = {471}, year = {2019}, month = {03/2019}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

The aim of school-based Disaster Resilience Education (DRE) is to build students{\textquoteright} understanding of the causes, nature and effects of hazards, while also fostering a range of competencies and skills that will enable them to contribute proactively to disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. The development and delivery of school-based DRE has been identified as a key priority for action in disaster resilience policy frameworks and strategies from the international to the local level. To support the delivery of the quality DRE in Victorian secondary schools, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) and the Victorian State Emergency Service (VicSES) in collaboration with secondary school teachers and students, have developed the Disaster Resilience Project (DRP) - a multi-hazard, teacher-delivered, web-based DRE program for students in Years 7 to 9. The program aims to increase students{\textquoteright} knowledge and awareness of local disaster risks and build their capacity for initiating and participating in practical action for disaster risk reduction and resilience.
The pilot version of the Disaster Resilience Project (DRP) was informed by extensive consultations with Victorian secondary school teachers, policy frameworks for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and resilience, and the academic literature. It was comprised of a structured set of five lessons designed to guide students through an exploration of key concepts in DRR and resilience, support them to apply those concepts to their own local context, and encourage them to plan and implement a DRR or resilience building activity at home, school or in the wider community. To support the teacher-delivered model of implementation, the pilot version also included a 45-60 minute face-to-face professional development session in which CFA project staff guided teachers through the learning intentions and the teaching and learning activities for each lesson.

}, keywords = {Disaster risk reduction, Emergency; Disaster; Citizen action; Emergence; Informal volunteerism; Resilience, school}, author = {Briony Towers and Sophie Perillo and Kevin Ronan} } @conference {bnh-6409, title = {Disasters and economic resilience in small regional communities: the case of Toodyay}, booktitle = {AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ - Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forum}, year = {2019}, month = {12/2019}, publisher = {Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience}, organization = {Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

We explore the effects of a small bushfire on the income trajectory of employed residents of Toodyay, a regional town in Western Australia. Our study reveals how detailed profiling, using public data, can overcome statistical limitations in disaster risk reduction exercises and better direct post-recovery interventions to minimise disruptions to important income streams in small regional towns.

Download the full peer reviewed research proceedings from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forumhere.

}, keywords = {Disaster risk reduction, economics, resilience}, url = {https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/australian-journal-of-emergency-management-monograph-series/}, author = {Mehmet Ulubasoglu and Farah Beaini} } @conference {bnh-6403, title = {WHS 2.0 World Health and Safety: integrating disaster risk reduction and sustainable development into every workplace using the Sendai Framework, Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals}, booktitle = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Day AFAC19}, year = {2019}, month = {12/2019}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

A proposed integrative conceptual framework has been developed for the Australian context to promote understanding, uptake and action toward the Paris Agreement for Climate Change, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development using the National Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. It is hoped that through compatibility with the existing Australian Work Health and Safety culture, this integrative framework can help promote understanding, uptake and action. WHS 2.0: World Health and Safety is designed to {\textquoteleft}bolt{\textquoteright} disaster risk reduction values and actions onto existing Work Health and Safety values and infrastructure in ways that are straight forward to understand. Implementation of such a conceptual framework will have positive impacts across society in terms of improved social, cultural, environmental and financial resilience.

}, keywords = {Disaster risk reduction, safety, SDGs, Sendai Framework}, url = {https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/australian-journal-of-emergency-management-monograph-series/}, author = {Heidi Chappelow} } @article {bnh-5020, title = {Predictive applications of Australian flood loss models after a temporal and spatial transfer}, journal = {Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk }, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, month = {03/2018}, pages = {14}, chapter = {416}, abstract = {

In recent decades, considerably greater flood losses have increased attention to flood risk evaluation. This study used data-sets collected from Queensland flood events and investigated the predictive capacity of three new Australian flood loss models to assess the extent of physical damages, after a temporal and spatial transfer. The models{\textquoteright} predictive power is tested for precision, variation, and reliability. The performance of a new Australian flood loss function was contrasted with two tree-based damage models, one pruned and one un-pruned. The tree-based models are grown based on the interaction of flood loss ratio with 13 examined predictors gathered from flood specifications, building characteristics, and mitigation actions. Besides an overall comparison, the prediction capacity is also checked for some sub-classes of water depth and some groups of building-type.

It has been shown that considering more details of the flood damage process can improve the predictive capacity of damage prediction models. In this regard, complexity with parameters with low predictive power may lead to more uncertain results. On the other hand, it has also been demonstrated that the probability analysis approach can make damage models more reliable when they are subjected to use in different flooding events.

}, keywords = {damage assessment, Disaster risk reduction, flood risk, Natural hazards, predictive capacity}, url = {https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19475705.2018.1445666}, author = {Roozbeh Hasanzadeh Nafari and Tuan Ngo} }