Tables and figures

List of tables

• Table 1: Fatalities in Australia between 1900 and 2015 resulting from natural hazards
• Table 2: Number of personnel deployed through NRSC and MOUs during the 2019‑2020 bushfire season
• Table 3: Defence assistance provided during Operation Bushfire Assist 2019‑2020
• Table 4: DACC categories 1-3
• Table 5: Thresholds for assistance
• Table 6: Use of sheltering terminology by states and territories
• Table 7: Overview of Bushfire Warning System colour and symbols.
• Table 8: Current NEPM AAQ – Standards for pollutants
• Table 9: Sample of air quality health advice provided by NSW and Victoria
• Table 10: Impact of insurance taxes
• Table 11: Non‑exhaustive list of financial assistance to individuals, small businesses and primary producers
• Table 12: Examples of some of the financial assistance measures available to individuals
• Table 13: Assistance measures under the DRFA
• Table 14: Snapshot of standard Category A assistance provided by state and territory governments

List of figures

• Figure 1: Members of the South Australian Country Fire Service illustrating the bushfire progression on Kangaroo Island for Commissioners, March 2020
• Figure 2: Australian mean temperature anomaly, 1910-2019
• Figure 3: Register of Australian pyrocumulonimbus wildfire (pyroCb) events: 1994‑2019
• Figure 4: Projected changes in climate-driven natural hazards. Confidence estimates are provided in brackets.
• Figure 5: Climate projections for Australia
• Figure 6: Future projections of fire weather conditions show increasing fire danger days
• Figure 7: Formation of pyrocumulonimbus clouds and fire‑generated thunderstorms
• Figure 8: Elements of disaster risk associated with natural hazards
• Figure 9: Insured losses from natural hazards – 2010 to 2020
• Figure 10: Compound disasters from 1966-1967 to 2018-2019 within a three-month window, and at least ten normalised deaths and/or $100 million normalised losses.
• Figure 11: Australia’s capacity for disaster resilience
• Figure 12: National Crisis Coordination Arrangements as set out in the AGCMF as in place during the 2019‑2020 bushfires and prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Figure 13: National Crisis Coordination Arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Note that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Cabinet was convened to support coordination between first ministers
• Figure 14: Simplified diagram of indicative high-level arrangements
• Figure 15: Information needs for strategic and operational decision makers
• Figure 16: Proportion of 38 indicators across the seven targets set out in the Sendai Framework that Australia could report on in 2018.
• Figure 17: Contemplating the impact of bushfire
• Figure 18: Adapted from the Australian Government Crisis Management Framework (October 2020) outlining Australian Government responsibilities.
• Figure 19: Timeline of state and territory emergency declarations made during the 2019‑2020 bushfire season
• Figure 20: Firefighters conducting a roadside back burn
• Figure 21: Firefighting trucks during the 2019‑2020 bushfire season
• Figure 22: Incident Management Team Hawksbury Gospers Mountain Fire December 2019
• Figure 23: Firefighters working together, 2019‑2020 bushfires
• Figure 24: Volunteers as percentage of the fire and emergency services workforce 2018-2019
• Figure 25: Number of fire and emergency services volunteers 2009-2019
• Figure 26: Victorian CFA protecting house from Floodwater 2016
• Figure 27: Enhanced medical team from HMAS Choules
• Figure 28: Evacuees are transported from Mallacoota, Victoria to awaiting ships as part of Operation Bushfire Assist 2019‑2020
• Figure 29: People being evacuated on HMAS Choules
• Figure 30: SEATs can be used to drop suppressant on bushfires.
• Figure 31: A DC-10 LAT
• Figure 32: Suppressant can be used to protect critical infrastructure such as telecommunications towers.
• Figure 33: A Type-1 helicopter refilling its water tank
• Figure 34: A RAAF C-130J Hercules transporting firefighting personnel.
• Figure 35: Example of interdependencies
• Figure 36: Australia’s national freight (road and rail) routes
• Figure 37: Example of educational material supporting disaster preparedness
• Figure 38 Cross Border Sub-Plan
• Figure 39: Side by side comparison of Towong Shire Council (left) and Moreton Bay Regional Council (right)
• Figure 40: Beach evacuation at Lake Conjola, NSW
• Figure 41: Cars queueing to evacuate Batemans Bay, NSW
• Figure 42: Fires burning near Corryong
• Figure 43: People evacuate to the beach with their animals at Malua Bay
• Figure 44: Australian Emergency Warnings Arrangements
• Figure 45: FDRS in NSW showing a severe rating
• Figure 46: Fire Danger Rating System in each jurisdiction
• Figure 47: A comparison of the ‘Fires Near Me (NSW)’ app (left) and ‘VicEmergency’ app (right)
• Figure 48: An ABC broadcast tower impacted by the Mount Wandera bushfire in NSW
• Figure 49: Size comparison of PM_2.5 and PM10
• Figure 50: Satellite images of southeast Australia during the 2019‑2020 bushfires. The light grey is the dispersal of bushfire smoke and the red and orange areas are detected fire and thermal anomalies.
• Figure 51: Comparison of air quality action categories for PM_2.5 as at February 2020 – adapted from table produced by Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria.
• Figure 52: Bushfire smoke over Parliament House in Canberra
• Figure 53: A NSW ranger carries out a controlled hazard reduction burn
• Figure 54: US Wildfire Smoke Guide for Public Health Officials and factsheets
• Figure 55: Visible satellite image (left); AQFx PM_2.5 forecast (right)
• Figure 56: Air quality forecast for the Sydney Metropolitan Region on 1 January 2020
• Figure 57: NIR activated for the COVID‑19 pandemic
• Figure 58: National committees involved in health emergencies
• Figure 59: Ambulance on standby in Queensland, during the 2019‑2020 bushfires
• Figure 60: AUSMAT outside a field hospital in Batemans Bay, NSW
• Figure 61: AUSMAT supporting the health response at a local hospital in Wangaratta, Victoria (left) and co‑deployed AUSMAT and ADF personnel in NSW (right)
• Figure 62: Local doctor in Cobargo, NSW, provides primary healthcare services in a motorhome after his practice was destroyed by the 2019‑2020 bushfires
• Figure 63: Clockwise top left: (1) Tae Rak channel and holding pond, Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in Victoria which was fire affected in 2019‑2020 bushfires; (2) Release of a nationally endangered Eastern Bristlebird in Victoria after it had been extracted during the fires; (3) the nationally threatened Northern Corroboree Frog, which was defended by aerial firefighting; (4) the Alpine Sphagnum Bogs and Associated Fens, a nationally threatened ecological community that was defended in the ACT during the fires.
• Figure 64: Pumping creek water to moisten ground fuel surrounding the Wollemi Pines
• Figure 65: Land use in Australia
• Figure 66: National fire return frequency for Australia, January 1988 to September 2020
• Figure 67: Native forest fire extent during the 2019‑2020 summer fire season
• Figure 68: Photograph of Willinga Park at the boundary with the National Park, showing one of the bushfire risk mitigation measures
• Figure 69: Figure from guidance on the 10/50 vegetation clearing rule in NSW
• Figure 70: Indigenous fire management on public land in Queensland
• Figure 71: Key steps that can help Traditional Owners and partners in sharing and weaving knowledge
• Figure 72: Predicted distribution of exposure to high natural hazard risk in 2100.
• Figure 73: Example of a house built to be resilient to natural hazards becoming less so due to a lack of maintenance and compliance with protective measures
• Figure 74: Flooding in February 2020 in Jandowae, Queensland
• Figure 75: Cycle of insurer-recognised mitigation with financial incentives
• Figure 76: Four domains of community recovery
• Figure 77: The recovery cycle, adapted from the Australian Disaster Resilience Handbook 2: Community Recovery
• Figure 78: Bushfires and then flooding in Towong Shire, Victoria.
• Figure 79: Firefront in Bingie, Eurobodalla, January 2020
• Figure 80: Eurobodalla youth in recovery
• Figure 81: Australian Red Cross volunteer outside the Bairnsdale relief centre, Victoria
• Figure 82: Pop‑up mall in Mogo, NSW provided a temporary location for local businesses to operate in the aftermath of the 2019‑2020 bushfires
• Figure 83: The presence of asbestos can add siginificant complications to clean‑up efforts
• Figure 84: An influx of unsolicted donations can quickly overwhelm storage capacity
• Figure 85: Homes detroyed in NSW by the 2019‑2020 bushfires
• Figure 86: The recovery trajectory for communities
• Figure 87: Local residents volunteering in Quaama, NSW
• Figure 88: BlazeAid volunteers helping to repair a fence in NSW
• Figure 89: Recovery in action following the 2019‑2020 bushfires
• Figure 90: Recovery related expenditure for the 2019‑2020 bushfires
• Figure 91: Cobargo Community Relief Centre in NSW
• Figure 92: Hailstorm damage in Canberra, January 2020
• Figure 93: Reimbursement under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements¹¹⁶
• Figure 94: Comparison of eligible state and territory expenditure under the NDRRA and DRFA.¹¹⁹
• Figure 95: Damaged road in Queensland as a result of ex‑Cyclone Debbie in 2017¹³⁶
• Figure 96: Delivery of fodder for livestock being escorted, following the 2019‑2020 bushfires²¹⁶
• Figure 97: The basics of Earth observation and data collection
• Figure 98: Disaster inquiries in Australia 1970-2020
• Figure 99: National Action Plan – Actions being undertaken to address priority 2 (accountability decisions)