Lessons from the past are not alway used

Business flood preparedness in two NSW Communities: Molino, S and Gissing, A (2005) Presented at 45th annual conference of the NSW Floodplain Management Authorities, Narooma 22-25 February 2005

A grant from the Natural Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP) is being used to develop and pilot a toolkit to help businesses be better prepared for flooding. Wagga Wagga and Kempsey have been chosen as the two locations to pilot the toolkit because they both have substantial business districts with similar flood risks but significantly different flood histories.

Before developing the toolkit, a baseline survey was undertaken of nearly 100 businesses in each location to get an appreciation of their awareness and preparedness for flooding. This paper discusses some of the significant differences between and within these two locations in terms of business flood awareness and preparedness and the reasons for those differences particularly in terms of different flood histories.

Some issues which need to be confronted include attitudes towards infrequent events, perceptions that insurance will carry the cost, awareness of flood warning systems, confidence that they will know what to do on the day and limited time and resources to devote to business continuity planning.

Download the research paper to find out more.