Creating an Awareness of Hazards: Some NSW Examples Relating to Floods and Storms

Keys, C. (1995) presented to the Conference on Atmospheric Hazards: Process, Awareness and Response, University of Queensland, Brisbane

Floods and storms wreak considerable damage in Australia, but the costs they impose could be reduced given higher levels of community comprehension of and preparedness for them. Agencies with responsibilities for disaster management, recognise the need to develop programs of community education and are grappling with the 'how to' problems which such programs inevitably pose. In New South Wales (NSW) the State Emergency Service (SES) is developing and applying a number of strategies to increase public awareness and understanding of the flood and storm threats and what can be done to mitigate their impacts. This paper describes and attempts to evaluate the strategies which are currently being pursued.

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