1 / 34

LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS AUSTRALIA PART 4: WILDFIRES

LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS AUSTRALIA PART 4: WILDFIRES . Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA . AUSTRALIA. NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA. FLOODS. GOAL: MOVE PEOPLE OUT OF HARM’S WAY. CYCLONES. EARTHQUAKES .

zorina
Download Presentation

LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS AUSTRALIA PART 4: WILDFIRES

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERSAUSTRALIAPART 4: WILDFIRES Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA 

  2. AUSTRALIA

  3. NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA FLOODS GOAL: MOVE PEOPLE OUT OF HARM’S WAY CYCLONES EARTHQUAKES HIGH BENEFIT/COST FOR SAVING LIVES, BUT LOW BEMEFIT/COST FOR PROTECTING PROPERTY WILDFIRES ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

  4. A DISASTER is --- --- the set of failures that overwhelm the capability of a community torespond without external help  when three continuums: 1)  people, 2) community (i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and social constructs), and 3) complex events (e.g., floods, wildfires, ...,) intersect at a point in space and time.

  5. Disasters are caused by single- or multiple-event natural hazards that, (for various reasons), cause extreme levels of mortality, morbidity, homelessness, joblessness, economic losses, or environmental impacts.

  6. Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters Planet Earth’s atmospheric-lithospheric interactions create situ-ations favorable for Wildfires (AKA BUSHFIRES)

  7. WILDFIRES are conflagrations caused by lightning discharges (or acts of man) in wilderness areas close enough to one or more urban interfaces that they threaten people, property, infrastructure, and business enterprise

  8. WILDFIRE HAZARDS

  9. SCIENCE OF WILDFIRES

  10. WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) • FIRE • HOT GASES AND SMOKE • HOT SPOTS • BURNED OUT SLOPES (with increased susceptibility to insect infestation, erosion, and landslides)

  11. WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) • SUNDOWNER WINDS • LOCAL CHANGES IN AIR QUALITY • LOCAL CHANGES IN WEATHER

  12. CAUSES OF DAMAGE LIGHTNING STRIKES MANMADE FIRES PROXIMITY OF URBAN AREA TO THE WILDLAND FIRE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION (DAY/NIGHT DIFFERENCES) WILDFIRES (AKA BUSHFIRES) DRYNESS DISASTER LABORATORIES HIGH TEMPERATURES LOCAL FUEL SUPPLY

  13. HAZARDS • INVENTORY AT RISK • VULNERABILITY • LOCATION • PREPAREDNESS • PROTECTION • EARLY WARNING • EMERGENCY RESPONSE • RECOVERY and • RECONSTRUCTION WILDFIRE RISK POLICY OPTIONS ACCEPTABLE RISK RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK WILDFIRE DISASTER RESILIENCE DATA BASES AND INFORMATION AUSTRALIA’S COMMUNITIES HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

  14. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES PREPAREDNESFOR THE EXPECTED AND UNEXPEDTED IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

  15. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES TIMELY EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

  16. HIGH POTENTIAL LOSS EXPOSURES TO WILDFIRES People, property, infrastructure, business enterprise, government centers, wildlife, and natural resources.

  17. AUSTRALIA’S WORST WILDFIRE OUTBREAK

  18. WORST WILDFIRES IN AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY 400 FIRES BURNED FOR WEEKSVICTORIA STATE FEBRUARY 2009

  19. The deadliest wildfires in Australia's history burned people in their homes and cars and wiped out entire towns 173 DEAD; 2000 HOMES DESTROYED

  20. WILDFIRES: 2009

  21. WILDFIRES ON AUSTRALIA’S TASMANIA ISLAND BURNED 100 HOMES AND FORCED THOUSANDS TO FLEE JANUARY 4, 2013

  22. WILDFIRES ON TASMANIA: (TEMPERATURE REACHED 40 DEGREES C)

  23. OTHER WILDFIRES BURNED SIMULTANEOUSLY • Bushfires were also burning in other parts of Australia, including South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

  24. IMPACT IN TOWN OF DUNALLEY • A SCHOOL AND A POLICE STATION WERE DESTROYED, ALONG WITH ONE-THIRD OF ALL BUILDINGS.

  25. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES EARLY WARN-ING (THE ISS) AND EVACU-ATION ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

  26. WILDFIRES REACHED “CATASTROPHIC LEVEL” IN AUSTRALIA JANUARY 8, 2013

  27. HIGH TEMPERATURES AND DRYNESS CAUSE WILDFIRES TO REACH “CATASTROPHIC LEVEL”

  28. EVACUATION • Further south on the Tasman Peninsula east of Hobart, the capitol, as many as 2,000 people took refuge in the town of Nubeena overnight, while another 700 were sheltered at the nearby historic Port Arthur site. • Others were ferried to safety.

  29. LABETOUCHE, AUSTRALlA: 93 KM (56 MILES) EAST OF MELBOURNE

  30. SOUTH NEW WALES

  31. FIGHTING THE FIRE FROM THE AIR

  32. LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE ALL WILDFIRES RECOVERY AND RECON-STRUCTION USUALLY MEANS STARTING OVER.

  33. WILDLIFE IMPACTED

  34. KEEPING A SURVIVOR OF THE FIRE ALIVE

More Related