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

The Cyclone Debbie Review

The Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Handbook 2 – Community Recovery discusses this contrast between planning and implementation: “Planning/preparedness prior to an event is also a critical aspect of community recovery … Community and individual needs vary prior to and post-disaster, and a community’s recovery is a dynamic process — so adaptive Coordinating offers of assistance to affected communities appears not to have been planned centrally during this event, but was undertaken by a number of agencies. We heard there was some confusion over which state government agency was responsible for oversight of corporate offers of assistance. This may be due to a machinery of government change that separated the QRA from the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning. The absence of a “Premier’s Appeal”, familiar from past events, may have added to uncertainty about who to contact to offer assistance. GIVIT, active throughout the event, and the Queensland Government have a partnership for donated goods and corporate donations during recovery. GIVIT operates a virtual warehouse to manage the donated goods and matches these goods to requests from those impacted by a disaster. They were used by some, but not all, local groups. A number of councils have memorandums of understanding with GIVIT that enable councils to give them information directly for the benefit of the community. GIVIT also works with DCCSDS to provide goods to individuals, based on referrals received during the recovery process. The difficulty of managing physical donations recurred, resulting in charities “overflowing with donated goods” that created logistical challenges and did not necessarily meet needs. management/governance, monitoring, and review and adaptation of programs is essential.” 96

While the model of support that QRA aspires to is outlined in Operation Queensland Recovery , 97 strong relationships to bring the model to life have yet to be formed. Recovery efforts under way at the local level were not always visible to state government agencies. In keeping with the earlier discussion about the wide variation of capacity and capability across Queensland, it is suggested by QRA that a single recovery model won’t work. Instead we need an agreed range of models, based on consistent recovery principles, with local governments choosing one which they believe will work for a particular event. Understanding the local context for recovery and the value of tapping into existing community networks, irrespective of whether those networks are emergency-focused, needs more emphasis by state and national providers of recovery services.

Themes

Finding Despite the good work by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services in 2016 in updating the policy and guidelines for Offers of Assistance, there remains a level of confusion over who is accountable. Similarly, GIVIT, which is charged with managing public donations, felt there are opportunities to improve the process.

Recommendation The Queensland Offers of Assistance Policy, particularly for corporate donations, should be updated and exercised prior to the next season.

Finding We found a number of exemplary approaches to preparedness and planning. These include: • Townsville local group’s planning for evacuation, both immediately before the event and over the past four years, in preparedness, planning and exercises. • The Whitsundays’ early activation and approach to “worst case planning,” anticipating a direct impact on the area. • Rockhampton’s implementation of betterment projects to reduce the effects of flooding on the city. • Ipswich local group’s scenario planning approach to possible rainfall events, and their readiness for an event on the scale of the 2011 flooding. • Energy Queensland’s upgraded disaster assessment and tasking approach that speeds the time of electricity restoration. • State government agencies’ anticipatory deployments that provided community reassurance and enabled resources to be on hand quickly when needed. • Planning for the transition to recovery, underpinned by the considerable preparation by the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disabilities Services and Queensland Reconstruction Authority in the months before Debbie.

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6 THEMES

Planning for transition to recovery