Program Activities

Australian Disaster Information Network (AusDIN)

AusDIN is a multi-agency initiative to establish a national knowledge and information network of people and systems to serve the emergency management community in the Australian region and support the development of governance arrangements for general emergency management data, information and knowledge through development of best practise, guidelines, sponsoring of workshops and consideration of national issues.

The Bureau is an active member of the AusDIN Portal Group which exists as a sub-group of the AusDIN Working Group (now renamed National Information Advisory Group - NIMAG) with the aim of establishing an Internet Portal to facilitate timely access to data, information and knowledge for all phases of emergency management and to realise the strategic directions of the AusDIN Working Group. Emphasis is on the all-hazards, whole-of-cycle approach and includes lessons learnt and developments in counter-terrorism.

Development of the AusDIN Portal is managed by the AusDIN Portal Group. The AusDIN Portal Group has the support of agencies at the Australian and State Government level together with private enterprise, peak bodies and universities. The AusDIN Portal is the visible entity arising from the AusDIN concept, and as such will play a key role in applying the objectives of the Ausdin Working Group and ultimately the AEMC, into the emergency management mainstream.

The AusDIN Portal is currently in the final stages of development and a trial product will be available shortly

Bushfire CRC

In Australia, the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has been recently established to provide a centre of excellence to lead and coordinate bushfire research among a range of academic and industry partners to holistically understand and manage the risks associated with the bushfire hazard. In many Australian communities, particularly those in the rapidly growing rural/urban interface areas, it is acknowledged that effective bushfire risk communication, and adequate and timely response to warnings, is an ongoing issue for weather, fire and emergency services. Any failure of pre-event safety messages, fire warnings, post event communications and the associated action advice, results in lower standards of personal safety and increased property, heritage, environmental and social losses.

In an effort to better understand and address a range of bushfire risk and warnings communication issues, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology is coordinating a Bushfire CRC supported research effort that is bringing together three separate but linked social science research projects in a directed effort to address bushfire-related risk communication research. Throughout these projects various mechanisms and media for constructing and effectively communicating bushfire risk are examined and through case studies the effectiveness of various bushfire raising awareness raising processes is tested.

Learn more about the Bureau's work with the Bushfire CRC

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)

The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) arose from the Geneva Mandate on Disaster Reduction agreed at the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction IDNDR International Programme Forum -5-9 July 1999. The strategy aims at building disaster resilient communities by promoting increased awareness of the importance of disaster reduction as an integral component of sustainable development, with the goal of reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards and related technological and environmental disasters.

The ISDR combines the strengths of many key players through regional collectives, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Disaster Reduction (IATF/DR) and the Inter-Agency Secretariat of the ISDR (UN/ISDR). The IATF/DR is the principal body for the development of disaster reduction policy. It is the focal point in the UN System to promote links and synergies between, and the coordination of, disaster reduction activities in the socio-economic, humanitarian and development fields, as well as to support policy integration. It serves as an international information clearinghouse on disaster reduction, developing awareness campaigns and producing articles, journals, and other publications and promotional materials related to disaster reduction. The UN/ISDR headquarters is based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. It conducts outreach programmes through its regional units.

The Bureau supports ISDR through a number of mechanisms. Primarily the World Meteorological Organisation (as a member of the IATF) and the WMO Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Program; and through the regional ISDR office - based in SOPAC in Fiji.

Go to the ISDR website

RANET

RANET is an international collaboration to make weather, climate, and related information more accessible to remote and resource poor populations. RANET undertakes this mission in order to aid day-to-day resource decisions and prepare against natural hazards. The program combines innovative technologies with appropriate applications and partnerships at the community level in order to ensure that the networks it creates serve the entirety of community information needs. Community ownership and partnership is the core principle of RANET's sustainability strategy.

The consortium that comprises RANET is a varied list of organizations who believe that environmental information, while not a panacea to the numerous challenges that face many communities, is nonetheless a vital component of any sustainable development strategy. The Bureau Of Meteorology has representatives on both the RANET Steering Committee and the RANET Pacific Steering Committee.

Go to the RANET website

The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS)

TIEMS was founded in 1993 as a non-profit organization for the purpose of bringing together users, planners, researchers, managers, response personnel and other interested parties to exchange information on the use of innovative methods and technologies to improve our ability to avoid, mitigate, respond to, and recover from natural and technological disasters.

The International Emergency Management Society held its annual conference in the Faroe Islands during 23-27 May, 2005. Linda Anderson-Berry participated both as a representative of the Bureau Of Meteorology and of the Bushfire Cooperative Centre. In her capacity as research leader of the Bushfire CRC research area "Effective Risk Communication" (Program C - sub-program C4), she presented a keynote presentation,"Communicating the Bushfire Risk and 'Successfully' Warning At-Risk Australian Rural/Urban Interface Communities". In her capacity as the Disaster Mitigation Policy Program Manager within the Bureau Of Meteorology's Weather and Ocean Services Policy Branch, she presented a second (invitational) keynote presentation on some of the issues and challenges to be dealt with when developing effective Tsunami Early Warnings Systems. Whilst attending this conference she was able to have discussions with international colleagues in the weather and emergency services.

This conference was considered by the organisers to have been highly successful. It was attended by more than 100 internationally renowned disaster mitigation and emergency management researchers and practitioners from 17 different countries. Papers were presented on varying cross-cutting themes linking disaster and hazard research, emergency management and disaster mitigation.

Go to the TIEMS website

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)

High-level Expert Group Meeting on Technical Options for Disaster Management Systems: Tsunamis and Others

The primary purpose of this meeting of experts was to discuss and consider a range of technical options for disaster management systems - focussing in the first instant on the tsunami hazard and also including a range of other hazards. This is consistent with the international disaster mitigation priorities of multi-hazard approaches and end-to-end processes. The Australian delegation at this meeting comprised Geosciences Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology (represented by Dr Linda Anderson-Berry). Together they were able to add value to the meeting drawing on Geosciences Australia's technical expertise and Linda's social science and disaster mitigation expertise and experience, in both the Australian and International contexts. The mission was considered, by the UNESCAP organisers, to have been highly successful.

Go to the UNESCAP website

World Conference on Disaster Reduction (WCDR)

Through its resolution A/RES/58/214, the United Nations General Assembly convened a World Conference on Disaster Reduction, held in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, from 18 to 22 January 2005. The Conference was to take stock of progress in disaster risk reduction accomplished since the Yokohama Conference of 1994 and to make plans for the next ten years.

Learn more about the Bureau's participation in the WCDR

World Weather Research Programme (WWRP)

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) established a World Weather Research Programme in 1998, with a mission to develop improved and cost effective forecasting techniques, with emphasis on high impact weather, and to promote their application among WMO Member States. The WWRP encompasses the former WMO Programmes on Very Short- and Short-range Weather Prediction Research and on Medium- and Long-range Weather Prediction Research.

Research and Development Projects (RDPs) within WWRP serve to achieve improved understanding and techniques development, and Forecast Demonstration Projects (FDPs) form an essential part of the WWRP and serve to exhibit and formally quantify the benefits to be derived from improved understanding and enabling technologies.

Go to the WWRP website

The first WMO World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) Forecast Demonstration Project (FDP), with a focus on nowcasting was conducted in Sydney from 4 September 2000 to 21 November 2000 during a period associated with the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

The goal of the Sydney 2000 FDP was to demonstrate the capability of modern forecast systems and to quantify the associated benefits in the delivery of a real-time nowcast service.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Forecast Demonstration Project: Forecasting, Observing Network Infrastructure, and Data Processing Issues PDF

The Societal, Social, and Economic Impacts of the World Weather Research Programme Sydney 2000 Forecast Demonstration Project (WWRP S2000 FDP) PDF