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

Inspector-General Emergency Management

Evacuation

Findings

A number of evacuation plans for aged care facilities were overly reliant on agencies that had not been involved in the planning. The plans therefore had no guarantee of implementation. We recognise that good work has been done, by both local governments and the tourism sector to mitigate the effects of cyclones. Gaps in arrangements still remain, particularly around evacuation and new arrivals.

The arrival of tourists and other visitors immediately after a disaster, inhibited recovery effort and potentially reflected badly on Queensland’s tourist reputation. Return of tourists as early as possible to holiday areas is however essential to sustained recovery.

The tourism and disaster management sectors have different perspectives of evacuation arrangements and how they should be organised. There is scope for better understanding of each other’s perspectives and agreement on how arrangements will work in the future. Tourists will benefit if this happens. Responsibility for tourists who require evacuation is unclear, causing confusion among authorities and tourism operators, and frustration for tourists themselves. Capability The arrangements for Requests For Assistance are complex. Whether from resources within the state, or from the Defence Assistance to the Civil Community, they involve funding, bureaucracy and authorisation. A range of obstacles were evident to initiators, slowing the timely delivery of support. Carefully planned pre-deployment of trained staff enhanced capability, ensuring rapid relief and recovery activities. This was evident for state agencies, non-government organisations and critical infrastructure providers. Triggers for, and models of, deployment should continue to be refined using learnings from Debbie. Fatigue significantly impacted the sustainability of critical roles during Debbie. This is especially evident at all levels of the system where disaster management expertise, combined with contextual knowledge is relied upon. In prolonged events fatigue may impact on critical decision-making. Disaster groups and state agencies that plan for human resourcing requirements during operations are more likely to deliver expected outcomes. Volunteers played a vital role during Debbie. Traditional emergency management volunteers, such as State Emergency Services, and spontaneous volunteers ensured rapid relief to communities. Continued support and advocacy of informal and non-traditional volunteering through organisations such as Volunteering Queensland and the social sector ensure the community is rapidly supported following an event. Exercises and training Exercising is often undertaken in a siloed manner - limited to local and district groups, or internal to an agency, state group or centre. Where disaster management plans were tested, groups were trained and had exercised risks, good outcomes were more evident. This reinforced that emergency management exercises are one of the best ways to test capability. From our checking of pre event activities we note that exercising has been undertaken in siloed manner - limited to local and district groups, or internal to an agency, state group or centre. Enhanced shared understanding of roles and responsibilities, critical decision points and information flow is likely if exercising focused on vertical integration and included all levels of the system. Terminology that is not consistent and well understood by disaster management practitioners may lead to confusion. We acknowledge the work that is ongoing in the Queensland Disaster Management Lexicon Program, facilitated by the Office of the Inspector-General Emergency Management, and the National Disaster Resilience Glossary Project facilitated by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience.

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The Cyclone Debbie Review

Lessons for delivering value and confidence through trust and empowerment