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

The Cyclone Debbie Review

Visibility

Themes

The information from the various systems that operate in disaster management can be used to provide situational awareness to aid decision-makers. However, during this event we saw many examples where information was visible to some agencies but not others. At times, this lack of visibility resulted in conflicting decisions being made at state and local level. We saw cases where: • information was accessible but stakeholders were not aware of it, • stakeholders had access to information but did not recognise the importance of sharing it with others, • stakeholders made decisions without having access to all of the relevant information available to them, and We heard that during the event one state agency was trying to source local situational reports but had no visibility of them in EMS. This resulted in that agency requesting information from the local government through their normal departmental channels. QFES has 10 licences for Guardian Command. Guardian Command is a cloud system that has the capacity to directly connect to local groups’ Guardian Control information. Guardian Control has access to many local situational reports from local groups willing to share this information. When we spoke to a number of QFES staff in SDCC, they were unaware that Guardian Command existed. Although Guardian Command was purchased to provide more visibility of local group’s information at the state level, we found it was not widely known about and could have been better utilised during this event. We heard that prior to the event Energy Queensland contacted local governments • systems containing useful information were not used. to collect information about critical infrastructure and backup power requirements, with varying success. During the event, backup power requirements for one critical asset were not known by the associated council, which resulted in insufficient supplies being deployed to fix the problem.

We also heard of one agency that had resources ready and available to deploy for support. However, their assistance was never requested, and so the resources were not offered or used. In January 2014, the Office conducted a survey of state government agencies to find out what datasets they owned that might have relevance to disaster management activities. The survey found 588 datasets were potentially relevant. However, only 36 per cent of these datasets were publicly available on the Queensland Government data website. Additionally, agencies said 76 per cent of these datasets could be shared, without restriction, to agencies involved in disaster management. We wonder how agencies involved in disaster management can make the best decision or avoid conflicting decisions if they do not know what information or resources each entity has.

“Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say

we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks

throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.” 118

Donald Rumsfeld’s quote above will be familiar to many. Knowing what information other agencies have can guide the formation of relationships, build trust, and prioritise the exchange of information when needed. The experience of Debbie suggests that Queensland’s disaster management information is in danger of falling into that last category if it is not captured and shared within a transparent system that connects information with decision-makers.

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6 THEMES

Information management: Pressure • Volume • Process • Visibility