TRANSCRIPT:
Research conducted on behalf of Australian Red Cross has found Australians are bracing for an increase in natural disasters and emergencies.
Penny Harrison is the Chief of Staff of Red Cross Australia.
"What we have seen is, especially in this last five years, a quite significant rise in the awareness of the Australian community about impacts including things like heat waves from bushfires, or floods or major power outages. So, there is a growing sentiment in the Australian community that sort of anything could happen, which is leading to this heightened expectation we've seen in the research over the last five years."
The data collected shows 58 per cent of people expect to be impacted by heat waves in the next month, which is more than double five years ago.
The percentage of people concerned about bushfires and floods has also increased markedly in the last five years.
Ms Harrison says this increased expectation is directly related to the intensity and frequency of disasters and emergencies.
"Certainly, if we look back in the past five years, and we've had communities all across the country and every state and territory are impacted by some form of major disaster and also smaller scale disasters, and in fact, some members of our community thinking of the Northern Rivers and southern Queensland were impacted by bushfires, and then COVID, and then floods, so they've actually had multiple impacts. So, we believe that this sentiment of increasing understanding of the risks and hazards in the local environment has probably been borne out of many people very unfortunately being impacted by those events."
While the research shows increasing concern, it also reveals Australians are not taking the necessary steps to be prepared.
"This research this year is actually illustrating that probably only 10% of Australians are actually actively taking that first really important step to get ready or put in place a preparedness plan so we clearly have a collective challenge as a community."
And when disaster does hit, a failure to prepare is shown to have substantial and devastating impacts.
Commissioner of New South Wales Rural Fire Service Rob Rogers says in the case of bushfires, a failure to prepare impedes the ability to think and act safely.
"We find this sometimes with people that might say I'm going to stay and defend my home and they haven't really prepared their home. And then suddenly when the fire is almost on them, then they suddenly have a change of heart and try and leave late. And then we've had historically people caught on roads because they're leaving too late and then the road that they didn't realize was cut then gets affected by fire and unfortunately, that can have deadly consequences and has in the past, so if you don't plan then you know you leave yourself open to make really poor decisions."
Mr Rogers says taking the time to put together a plan goes a long way in the face of an emergency.
"If you put in a little bit of effort ahead of time, and you've got something written down to follow, then even if you're not in a good state mentally you might be stressed and, and a bit panicked with things. You can just follow that and it takes you through a logical process and obviously that beam can make a huge difference and make sure that you make good decisions and that your property and you have the best chance of survival."
Alongside increasing a person's physical risk, a lack of preparation also has the potential to have serious emotional effects.
Jocelyn Galvez is Senior Officer for Emergency Services at the Australian Red Cross.
Ms Galvez has worked with the Red Cross disaster response and preparedness team for five years, supporting communities in responding to major floods, bushfires and cyclones.
She says she has experienced first-hand the vast emotional impact a lack of preparedness can have on individuals and communities hit by disaster.
"Memories that you get from the day about how stressed you were, are, are sometimes so much easier to process when you have thought through certain actions. And so for people that were unprepared, it was really a sense of powerlessness and chaos."
Ms Harrison says the research the conducted by Red Cross similarly links high emotional impact with a lack of preparation.
"Red Cross's experience shows that there is indeed a strong correlation between the emotional impact with levels of preparation so that people who are less prepared, find it harder to cope and especially to then recover. So, what we then conversely know is that by going through the steps of building a plan and thinking through what it might mean for yourself, whether it's an individual, a household or a community, is a really important way to start to prepare yourself emotionally and psychologically."
Ms Galvez says mentally preparing for a disaster is just as important as physically taking steps to prepare in the case of emergency.
She says building emotional resilience and preparedness should be an important part of a person's disaster plan.
"If you were able to anticipate some of those feelings that you might have, and start putting things in place, like for example practising for meditation so that you're able to regulate these things better, you can that will help all of your family and by helping your family being together, finding a sense of calm and safety just, you know, that will help you with the up and ups and downs of what needs recovery."
The Red Cross has this week released a new 'Get Prepared APP,' assisting people in putting together an easy-to-follow set of actions to help individuals, households and communities plan for emergencies.
Simple to follow guides for preparing for disaster have also been published in six languages on the Red Cross website.
Ms Harrison says being informed and making a practical plan is the best thing a person can do to protect themselves from physical and emotional harm.
"The more prepared you are, the better your capacity to cope if an event occurs and this could be a big disaster or a small event, and then also better prepared to respond and recover. So just sort of thinking about what you might do actually isn't enough. You really need to have a plan in place."
