We surveyed people with disability and carers after a major flood in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales area. Some of the stories were shocking.
Many flood-affected Sydneysiders live in what amounts to a bathtub. With the next flooding season on their doorstep, they can expect more frequent, devastating floods.
In flood-ravaged Dili, COVID-19 restrictions were abandoned as the disaster unfolded. But it means an already escalating pandemic situation may spiral out of control.
Floodplains are among the most productive ecosystems on the planet – they are biodiversity hotspots. That’s in large part due to periodic flooding between different parts of a river-floodplain system.
New research shows nature started its long road to recovery in 2020 – especially in NSW and Victoria. But overall conditions across large swathes of the country remain poor.
Our report draws on data from more than 1,000 participants who told us of their experiences through community meetings, repeated surveys years after the fires or in-depth interviews.
One interviewee in our study described having compiled a database of more than 150 interactions with insurers or their representatives over the two months since they were caught up in a disaster.
It’s not enough to continue to build cities and towns based on business-as-usual planning principles. We need to plan and design our urban spaces around the idea that flooding is inevitable.
The expert advice is to never drive, walk, or ride through flood waters. Unfortunately, however, this is advice often not heeded. Research on psychology and floods reveals clues as to why.
Unless you’ve lived through it, it’s hard to understand how stressful a catastrophic flood can be - both in the moment and long after the event. That’s especially true for vulnerable populations.
By collaborating with Indigenous ranger groups, we can make strategic fire and land management practices economically sustainable for traditional landowners.
The unprecedented intensity of two summers of bushfires, first in the east and then in the west, offered harsh lessons for Australians. One is that some settlements must retreat from high-risk areas.
Given climate change predictions of more extreme floods in New Zealand, it’s time to change management practices to work with a river, allowing it room to move and its channels to adjust.
Infrastructure is often seen as the main way to reduce the impacts of climate-related disasters like floods and drought. But cities are complex systems with many factors affecting their resilience.
When disaster strikes, not everyone is affected the same way. Research shows the experiences of sexually and gender diverse people are frequently very different to those of heterosexual people.
Lecturer and Research Fellow, School of Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences. Coordinator, Education for Sustainability Tasmania, University of Tasmania