Emergency Management Australia Podcast

Marine Rescue New South Wales has over 3,000 volunteers in 44 strategically-located units watching over the New South Wales’ most popular boating, fishing and cruising regions. In this episode, Kieran talks to Commissioner Stacey Tannos, about the great work the service provides to the community. The Resilient Australia Awards is a nation-wide program to recognise and promote initiatives that strengthen community disaster resilience. This year, St Ives North Public School won the 2017 Resilient Australia National School Award. In this episode, Simon talks to Barbara Ryan, the Assistant Principal of St. Ives North Public School, about the award-winning project.

In Episode 25 we speak with Dr Phil Cummins about tsunamis and we go to Darling Harbour in Sydney to hear from participants at this year’s AFAC annual conference.

In Episode 24 of the EMA Podcast, we hear why finding missing or lost persons in a state as big as Western Australia is no small task when we speak to Tegan Doig about her role as a volunteer dog handler for SES Canine Unit in WA. We also speak with Dr Richard Thornton from the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC about the role of research in mitigating the impact of natural disasters, and find out what is instore for our emergency services in the upcoming dry season in the CRC’s recently released Northern Seasonal Outlook.

In this episode of the EMA Podcast Andrew heads to the Emergency Media and Public Affairs (EMPA) conference that was recently held in Sydney. Andrew caught up with CEO of the EMPA board Peter Rekers, Michelle Poole from Dunedin City Council and Melanie Markham to discuss the work being done by the Norwegian Refugee Council and her time providing humanitarian aid in the Middle East.

In this episode of the EMAPodcast we chat to SES volunteer Daniel Philippa who is an alpine search and rescue operator in Australia’s Snowy Mountains. Peter catches up with Dr Patricia Watson. Dr Watson is a senior educational specialist with the national centre of post-traumatic stress disorder in the United States of America. They discuss the psychological effects of disasters and how they affect our community.

Our latest episode of EMAPodcast recognises 50 years of aerial firefighting in Australia. We hear from Ben Buckley, the maverick pilot who led Australia’s first aerial firebombing operation in the summer of 1967. We chat with NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley and NAFC General Manager Richard Alder about the importance of large air tankers in the fight against fires. We’re also joined by two pilots who share their flying experiences and how they protect local communities.

Our last episode of EMA Podcast for 2016 celebrates the winners of this year’s Resilient Australia Awards which we delivered with our friends at the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience. We chat with this year’s national winner, the Sunshine Coast Council for their Disaster Hub project. We also sit down with the National Photography Award winner Karin Calvert for her portrait of Bob Jaecocke, a long time Queensland Fire and Rescue Service volunteer. Finally, we take an in-depth look at Anglesea Primary School in Victoria who together with the Victorian CFA, won the Resilient Australia National School Award.

#EMApodcast celebrates the first birthday of the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR), launched last year to deliver a fresh approach to emergency management education, professional development and knowledge sharing for a disaster-resilient Australia. We talk to AIDR Director John Bates and the founding partners – AFAC, the Red Cross, the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and the Attorney-General’s Department – about what they’ve achieved and what’s ahead. The Red Cross talks about their RediPlan, a useful preparedness guide for disasters. And how can a smoke alarm alert a deaf person? #EMApodcast talks to the ACT Fire and Rescue Service about some innovative solutions.

In times of emergency, we know that everyone has a role to play. The fire emergency services help put out bushfires, our paramedics attend to the injured and the SES can rescue stranded people. What role does the fourth estate play? This episode explores the relationship between emergency management professionals and the media—tracing the steps of journalists covering unfolding disasters. We interview ABC News Director Gaven Morris and ABC Hobart’s Joel Rheinberger to gain a better understanding of their role. We also interview Nick Arvantis from Beyond Blue to discuss first responders.

Human nature is to prepare for what you know. But from an emergency management point of view, what happens if we find ourselves dealing with a situation that's so much bigger than anything we've ever experienced or could have imagined? This is one of those questions the sector will continue to wrestle with as it pushes to stay on top of emerging risks and threats. But rather than reinventing the wheel, experts from across the globe are reaching out and learning from one another, to help their communities be more disaster resilient. Australia and the United States have just completed their first ever emergency management staff exchange – a critical part of both countries’ commitment to expand emergency management knowledge across the globe. In this episode we talk to Emergency Management Australia’s Rebecca Hosking about her time in the United States and learn what it’s like in one of the world’s biggest emergency management organisations. We also chat to emergency management veteran Bob Jensen about preparing for the unimaginable and how important it is to act on what you learn from these experiences.

Comprehensive evacuation planning can mean the difference between life and death when disasters hit. In this episode we explore the complexities and considerations of large-scale evacuation in the face of natural disasters. To get a better understanding of the operational evacuation elements, we speak to Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, about the December 2015 Wye River bushfires. Dr Sarah McCaffrey, a researcher with the United States Forest Service, then unpacks the social aspects of fire management, particularly risk perception and effective communication with communities. CEO of Emergency Media and Public Affairs, Peter Rekers, then discusses the importance of communication in emergency management planning and gives us a taste of what’s happening at this year’s Emergency Management Public Affairs conference. With the 2016 Resilient Australia Awards now open, we also speak to Ramana James from IAG to learn what’s happened with his company’s innovative project, since being recognised in last year’s awards.

The 2011 Christchurch earthquake struck without warning at 12.51pm, on 22 February. The 6.3 magnitude earthquake killed 185 people and injured several thousand. How did it happen? Why was it so destructive? And could it happen in Australia? We talk to seismologist Dr Mark Leonard and engineer Mark Edwards, both from Geoscience Australia, about the science and some of the lessons we’ve learnt on building standards. Superintendent Tom Cooper, of Fire and Rescue NSW, gives a vivid firsthand account of his search and rescue role in the earthquake’s aftermath. We also talk to the Mansfield Shire Council about their Community Resilience Leadership Program, one of the highly commended entries in the 2015 Resilient Australia Awards.

Attorney-General's Department - In this episode we're talking with the Director General of Emergency Management Australia, Mark Crosweller about the significance of the Resilient Australia Awards and he introduces GIVIT – the 2015 National award winner. Rhiannon speaks with CEO of GIVIT, Juliette Wright, who tells us how she transformed her own idea to match donors and recipients into the Queensland state government’s official donor matching service. We also hear from Sarah Henderson at the 2015 awards’ ceremony, and Chris talks to Lucy Saaroni about spontaneous volunteers.

Attorney-General's Department: Recognising the vulnerability of the Asia-Pacific region to natural disasters, East Asia Summit participating countries have worked collaboratively over a three year period on the East Asia Summit Rapid Disaster Response Toolkit. Bushfires are an inevitable part of Australia's warmer months. This fire season, much of Australia is anticipating a higher than normal fire risk. We talk to Richard Thornton, CEO of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, about how El Nino, rainfall deficits and fuel loads all add up to a challenging season.

Attorney-General’s Department: If you’re calling Triple Zero – whether it’s for an accident, fire, or other emergency – knowing where you are is vitally important. We look at the ‘Emergency +’app which has been endorsed by state and territory governments. Dave talks to Dan Neely, Manager of Community Resilience at the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office about the Tsunami Blue project, and Chris speaks to Sarah Anderson, Public Safety Project Coordinator at Surf lifesaving Australia, about their web resource Tsunami: The Ultimate Guide.

Attorney-General’s Department: Most of us associate El Nino with hotter and drier weather for Australia. Certainly, seven of the 10 world’s hottest years on record were in an El Nino year, or the year following. Sean Carson from the Bureau of Meteorology joins us on this podcast to make sense of it all, starting with an explanation of El Nino. We also speak with Rob Drury, Manager - Water Source Services at Seqwater, about the work being conducted in south east Queensland to mitigate against floods in the future.

Attorney-General's Department: Would you risk your life to save a pet? Australian floods and bushfires are replete with anecdotes of people risking their lives – even losing their lives – trying to save a cat or a dog. This episode focusses exclusively on animals in disaster planning. We talk to two survivors of catastrophic disasters about the role animals played in their decisions. Two researchers share findings on the challenges to emergency services of people’s bond with animals, and we talk to ACT authorities about how they’ve worked with horse owners to avoid a repeat of some of the tragedies of the 2003 Canberra firestorm. World Animal Protection talks about their part in developing national principles that help emergency management authorities address this challenge.

In this episode we talk about the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and why it’s important for the world over the next 15 years, and Peter Rekkers, one of the organisers of this year’s Emergency Media and Public Affairs conference tells us about best-practice in emergency and crisis communications.

We talk about catastrophic disasters with the Director-General of Emergency Management Australia. SES volunteer Kim Fitzgerald tells us what it’s like to be an SES volunteer. And talked we talked to Professor Peter Fairbrother of RMIT University, who led a research team examining the role, scope and limits of communication in preparing householders for bushfires.

In this episode we talk about the Ebola virus with Dr Gary Lum, Specialist medical advisor from the Australian Government Department of Health. We also speak with Richard Alder, General Manager - National Aerial Fire Fighting Centre in Victoria and Superintendent Anthony Ferguson from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service about the potential for the use and misuse of drones in the firefighting process.