An independent after-action review into the wettest cyclone in Australia’s history has made 17 recommendations to improve responses to disaster management across the Cairns region.
Cairns Regional Council says the Cairns Local Disaster Management Group (LDMG) will action improvements outlined in the independent Forge After Action Review, which focused on determining the effectiveness of operational, tactical, and strategic activities during Tropical Cyclone Jasper and subsequent flooding in December 2023.
An after-action review is standard practice used by emergency services agencies and the Australian Defence Force to understand and improve capability and responses.
“Seven months since Tropical Cyclone Jasper and the unprecedented flooding that devastated parts of our community, we are steadfast in our resolve to learn from the disaster and ensure we are better prepared for future events,” Cairns Mayor, Amy Eden; Deputy Mayor, Brett Olds and Division 8 Councillor, Rhonda Coghlan said in a joint statement.
“Tropical Cyclone Jasper and the subsequent above 1-in-100 year flooding event, triggered a multi-agency response from the Local Disaster Management Group (LDMG) and rigorously tested the resources and capacity of Council and member agencies, at a time when human recourses were lean due to the holiday period.
“As with other natural disasters, understanding what needed to be improved only became apparent when systems were tested in a real event.
“A review of capacity and actions in the aftermath of a disaster is best practice and critical part of the learning process, important to guiding our actions in future events.”
As part of the After Action Review (AAR), 49 members of the LDMG were engaged, including representatives from the State Emergency Service, as well as police, ambulance and fire services, the Red Cross, Queensland Surf Lifesaving, Council and others.
The AAR noted that all members of the LDMG and the Incident Management Team performed their roles in a professional and timely manner during an extremely stressful period. The review made recommendations in four focus areas: leadership – strategic and executive awareness; improving the capacity of the incident management operations, public messaging; and recovery arrangements.
Actions to improve Council’s preparedness have already been initiated, with a restructure of its disaster management unit, including recruitment for three dedicated roles.
“We have released a detailed summary of the independent Forge After Action Review, as well as our submission to the Office of the Inspector-General Emergency Management (IGEM) Review of the 2023–24 Severe Weather Season (which includes TC Jasper, TC Kirrily and the South-East Queensland floods in December 2023),” the Council representatives stated.
“They provide the community with a greater understanding of the actions undertaken by the LDMG, the complex challenges faced, and key learnings and experiences.”
They say the reports also are a chance for Council to focus on preparation for future events, as well as providing senior levels of government key information to assist with their responses to natural disasters and the needs of communities.
“The After Action Review noted that all members of the LDMG and the IMT (Incident Management Team) performed their roles in a professional and timely manner during an extremely stressful period.”
“It also provided 17 recommendations to improve operations in preparation for future disaster events, all of which Council has committed to implementing.
“Actions to improve Council’s preparedness have already been initiated, with a restructure of its disaster management unit, including recruitment for three dedicated roles.
“Natural disasters are inevitable, which is why we must all come together – elected officials, staff and community – and use our collective resources, skills, experience, and innovation to solve the complex problems that they create,” they said.
Council has also endorsed a formal submission to the Office of the Inspector-General of Emergency Management (IGEM) which is reviewing Queensland’s 2023–24 severe weather season.
The submission was prepared to cover each of the four key focus areas and identified issues and potential enhancements Queensland Disaster Management Arrangements, including infrastructure and intelligence gaps, resource management and redundancy, reliability of weather forecasting, and the effectiveness of the newly implemented Australian Warning System (AWS).
The Council is also working with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Queensland Police Service to find improvements to the national standardised public information and warnings framework. Along with Federal and State counterparts, Council officers have been involved in a review of the AWS to improve the messaging process.
As part of the IGEM review, members of the public are invited to a community forum from 5pm to 8.30pm at the Holloways Beach Sports Club on Wednesday 7 August.
The submissions process is open to individuals, community groups, organisations, local governments and state and federal departments.
Register to attend at the following link: https://www.igem.qld.gov.au/submissions.
