Queensland Emergency Services has just launched a $3.8 million public education campaign aiming at ensuring Queenslanders are fully prepared for this year’s wet season.
The campaign was developed in response to interim recommendations from the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry and from the Bureau of Meteorology’s prediction of another possible busy storm and cyclone season.
The campaign titled ‘Get ready Queensland’ has been developed to help Queenslanders better understand potential weather-related hazards in their communities and provide advice on how to prepare, and where to find additional information and assistance.
Campaign advertising has been developed to encourage people to prepare in advance for the possibility of being without electricity and phone for three days during the wet season.
With more than 30 Queensland lives lost and three still unaccounted for in the last wet season the campaign will focus on making sure Queenslanders are proactive in preparing for natural disasters.
All Queenslanders will be sent information to help them assess the risks in their neighbourhood and create their own emergency action plan.
Ahead of the next wet season the Disaster Readiness Amendment Act 2011 just introduced to Queensland Parliament will formally implement recommendations of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry Interim Report and will improve the State’s disaster preparedness.
This Act amends a number of previous Acts of legislation to provide regulatory frameworks for water levels, dam levels and flood information for people living immediately downstream of the dams, response and recovery including the publication of disaster management plans on websites, road use management and repairs to community infrastructure that are damaged in the event of a disaster.
To assist with management in the event of disasters a new council called the Standing Council on Police and Emergency Management (SCPEM) was recently formed bringing together previously separate police and emergency management ministerial councils with a strategy emphasising shared responsibility and better planning and investment in disaster management.
Ministers discussed a number of new initiatives that will provide avenues of communication with the public and increased connectivity to better inform and prepare them ahead of the wet season.
A new smartphone app will be available by the end of 2012 which will provide users with smartphone mobiles access to information about natural disasters and assist them about what to do and how to prepare.
There will also be a national approach to improving State and Territory Triple Zero call services at times of high demand including adoption of national phone numbers for State Emergency Services and Police Assistance and further enhancement on the Emergency Alert system.
For information on how to ‘Get Ready’ for the wet season visit: www.qld.gov.au/GetReady
For more information on safety during a storm visit: www.emergency.qld.gov.au/emq/css/ beprepared.asp
To update your mobile phone details for Emergency Alert disaster warning text messages visit: www.ema.gov.au
