Terrorism, Natural Disasters Have Similar National Impacts

Jan. 13, 2009 - PRLog -- “Natural disasters have very similar impacts, on the economy, the psychology of the nation, on the business sector and on communities generally,” he says in an interview.

Mr Pearce, who is to address the National Security Australia 2009 conference in Sydney in March, says EMA has two roles in managing risks to the community and environment.

“We have the pre-emergency phase where we work with communities, governments, schools and others on identifying risks and developing strategies, publications and education programs to assist in reducing community risk . This also includes coordinating and administering the Australian Government funded Natural Disaster Mitigation Program.

“In the event of an emergency where a state or a territory needs assistance above it’s own capacity, we coordinate the Australian Government response to the emergency and work with the aeffected jurisdiction.”

One objective of EMA is to develop ‘community resilience’, “trying to get the community to a situation where it’s able to bounce back from adversity”.

“It means communities working with government in partnership. It’s the government working with the private sector and non-government organisations in a collective sense to have people understand their risk, to be able to deal with the event and once the issue’s past, to be able to recover from it.”

Mr Pearce says that in his address he will look at the concept of ‘all hazards’ emergency management -- the terrorism event as well as natural disasters and the similarities.

“I want to look at the potential consequences of the future risks we’re facing, such as climate change and adapting to climate change and how that’s going to impact on Emergency Management’s response.

“I’ll also look at some lessons we’ve identified from recent events and the community resilience issue.”

http://www.nationalsecurityaus.com

To arrange a media pass, request more information or arrange speaker interviews at the National Security Australia 2009 conference please contact: Nigel Dique
Informa-IIR 02 9080 4108; 0423 024 819; nigel.dique@informa.com.au

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