Technology to help weather bushfires, floods and more
Technology to help weather bushfires, floods and more
21 November 2012
published by http://phys.org
Australia–– While technology can’t prevent catastrophic events, a CSIRO report released in Canberra today
reveals how emerging technologies help emergency services better manage natural disasters and
minimise their effects on people, infrastructure and the environment.
The report ‘All Hazards: Digital Technology & Services for Disaster Management’ brings together for the
first time key examples of CSIRO research in disaster planning, preparation, rescue and recovery.
Mr Alan Dormer, Research Leader, Government and Commercial Services at CSIRO said that in 2010, 385
natural disasters impacted 217 million people worldwide and cost the global economy US$123.9B.
“In Australia, we had the 2011 Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi, and the 2009 Black Saturday
bushfires. We’ve yet to discover what the 2012-13 summer cyclone and bushfire season will bring,” he said.
CSIRO has been researching natural disasters such as bushfires and floods for many years but has now set
up a disaster management research team in its new Digital Productivity and Services Flagship to integrate
many areas of research and take a broader ‘all hazards’ approach.
“Although we’ve got lots of pieces of the natural disaster research puzzle, we haven’t got all of them. We’d
like to bring together CSIRO’s existing expertise and provide support across the spectrum of prediction,
preparation, emergency response and recovery.”
“We also want to collaborate with organisations with complementary data sources and capability, such as
Geoscience Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology.”
“Of course all this technology won’t be able to stop natural disasters happening but it will provide ways to
plan for and manage disasters more effectively and so reduce the human costs,” he said.
The report details a range of CSIRO research areas in disaster management and gives selected examples of
how the research is being used in real life situations.
For example, it explains how realistic, maths-based fluids models of tsunamis and storm surges are being
used by coastal councils to predict which homes and businesses are vulnerable and test scenarios.
It also highlights how social media is changing how emergencies are reported. Mentions of disasters in
Twitter posts are detected by CSIRO software to give rescue services early warning of emerging situations.
Another example in the report shows how research into the behaviour of bushfires can be combined with
computer models to give fire services vital information about where to send people and equipment as a fire
develops.
And how advances in spatial data technologies and analytics are improving the ability of governments here
and overseas to locate vulnerable communities and direct aid more effectively.
“Our disaster management report gives a science-based, referenced overview of what science is doing to
inform decisions about what nature throws at us,” he said.
The failure was in the forest areas.Advertisement
Following a 10-year strategy, ACT fire managers have created a mosaic across the landscape of different fuel levels, burning at every opportunity.
But forests have been too wet to burn this spring and the past two summers.
Read more:http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/red-alert-for-high-risk-of-fires-20121118-29koa.html#ixzz2CmafUgo3
The failure was in the forest areas.Advertisement
Following a 10-year strategy, ACT fire managers have created a mosaic across the landscape of different fuel levels, burning at every opportunity.
But forests have been too wet to burn this spring and the past two summers.
Read more:http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/red-alert-for-high-risk-of-fires-20121118-29koa.html#ixzz2CmafUgo3
The failure was in the forest areas.Advertisement
Following a 10-year strategy, ACT fire managers have created a mosaic across the landscape of different fuel levels, burning at every opportunity.
But forests have been too wet to burn this spring and the past two summers.
Read more:http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/red-alert-for-high-risk-of-fires-20121118-29koa.html#ixzz2CmafUgo3
Two summers of unprecedented rain and unusually cool temperatures have left a large fuel load of grass and unburnt forest areas in and around Canberra.
A network of 500 fire trails and strategic burns along the north-west urban edge, heavy grazing and extra grass slashing will create a fortress for the territory which forecasters say faces a higher than average risk this summer.
After a fire-fuelled tornado in January 2003 killed four Canberrans and frightened thousands more, CSIRO fire expert Phil Cheney told the subsequent inquiry the fire’s penetration into urban areas under extreme conditions did not reflect a failure of fuel management on the urban interface.
Read more:http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/red-alert-for-high-risk-of-fires-20121118-29koa.html#ixzz2CmaXNjum
The failure was in the forest areas.Advertisement
Following a 10-year strategy, ACT fire managers have created a mosaic across the landscape of different fuel levels, burning at every opportunity.
But forests have been too wet to burn this spring and the past two summers.
