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LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS AUSTRALIA PART 4: WILDFIRES Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA.

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Presentation on theme: "LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS AUSTRALIA PART 4: WILDFIRES Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA."— Presentation transcript:

1 LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS AUSTRALIA PART 4: WILDFIRES Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA

2 AUSTRALIA

3 NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA FLOODS CYCLONES EARTHQUAKES WILDFIRES ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE HIGH BENEFIT/COST FOR SAVING LIVES, BUT LOW BEMEFIT/COST FOR PROTECTING PROPERTY GOAL: MOVE PEOPLE OUT OF HARM’S WAY

4 A DISASTER is --- --- the set of failures that overwhelm the capability of a community to respond without external help when three continuums: 1) people, 2) community (i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and social constructs), and 3) complex events (e.g., floods, wildfires,...,) intersect at a point in space and time.

5 Disasters are caused by s ingle- or multiple-event natural hazards that, (for various reasons), cause extreme levels of mortality, morbidity, homelessness, joblessness, economic losses, or environmental impacts.

6 Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters Planet Earth’s atmospheric- lithospheric interactions create situ- ations favorable for Wildfires (AKA BUSHFIRES)

7 WILDFIRES are conflagrations caused by lightning discharges (or acts of man) in wilderness areas close enough to one or more urban interfaces that they threaten people, property, infrastructure, and business enterprise

8 WILDFIRE HAZARDS

9 SCIENCE OF WILDFIRES

10 WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) FIRE HOT GASES AND SMOKE HOT SPOTS BURNED OUT SLOPES (with increased susceptibility to insect infestation, erosion, and landslides)

11 WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) SUNDOWNER WINDS LOCAL CHANGES IN AIR QUALITY LOCAL CHANGES IN WEATHER

12 LIGHTNING STRIKES WILDFIRES (AKA BUSHFIRES) MANMADE FIRES PROXIMITY OF URBAN AREA TO THE WILDLAND FIRE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION (DAY/NIGHT DIFFERENCES) DRYNESS HIGH TEMPERATURES LOCAL FUEL SUPPLY CAUSES OF DAMAGE DISASTER LABORATORIES

13 AUSTRALIA’S COMMUNITIES DATA BASES AND INFORMATION HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS HAZARDS INVENTORY AT RISK VULNERABILITY LOCATION WILDFIRE RISK RISK ACCEPTABLE RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK WILDFIRE DISASTER RESILIENCE PREPAREDNESS PROTECTION EARLY WARNING EMERGENCY RESPONSE RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION POLICY OPTIONS

14 LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES PREPAREDNES FOR THE EXPECTED AND UNEXPEDTED IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

15 LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES TIMELY EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

16 HIGH POTENTIAL LOSS EXPOSURES TO WILDFIRES People, property, infrastructure, business enterprise, government centers, wildlife, and natural resources.

17 AUSTRALIA’S WORST WILDFIRE OUTBREAK

18 WORST WILDFIRES IN AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY 400 FIRES BURNED FOR WEEKS VICTORIA STATE FEBRUARY 2009

19 The deadliest wildfires in Australia's history burned people in their homes and cars and wiped out entire towns 173 DEAD; 2000 HOMES DESTROYED

20 WILDFIRES: 2009

21 WILDFIRES ON AUSTRALIA’S TASMANIA ISLAND BURNED 100 HOMES AND FORCED THOUSANDS TO FLEE JANUARY 4, 2013

22 WILDFIRES ON TASMANIA: (TEMPERATURE REACHED 40 DEGREES C)

23 OTHER WILDFIRES BURNED SIMULTANEOUSLY Bushfires were also burning in other parts of Australia, including South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

24 IMPACT IN TOWN OF DUNALLEY A SCHOOL AND A POLICE STATION WERE DESTROYED, ALONG WITH ONE-THIRD OF ALL BUILDINGS.

25 LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES EARLY WARN- ING (THE ISS) AND EVACU- ATION ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

26 WILDFIRES REACHED “CATASTROPHIC LEVEL” IN AUSTRALIA JANUARY 8, 2013

27 HIGH TEMPERATURES AND DRYNESS CAUSE WILDFIRES TO REACH “CATASTROPHIC LEVEL”

28 EVACUATION Further south on the Tasman Peninsula east of Hobart, the capitol, as many as 2,000 people took refuge in the town of Nubeena overnight, while another 700 were sheltered at the nearby historic Port Arthur site. Others were ferried to safety.

29 LABETOUCHE, AUSTRALlA: 93 KM (56 MILES) EAST OF MELBOURNE

30 SOUTH NEW WALES

31 FIGHTING THE FIRE FROM THE AIR

32 LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES RECOVERY AND RECON- STRUCTION USUALLY MEANS STARTING OVER.

33 WILDLIFE IMPACTED

34 KEEPING A SURVIVOR OF THE FIRE ALIVE


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