Severe Wind Gust Risk for Australian Capital Cities – A National Risk Assessment approach

A review commissioned in June 2001 by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) entitled 'Natural Disasters in Australia: reforming mitigation, relief and recovery arrangements' concluded that a new approach to natural disasters in Australia was needed. This approach would aim to achieve safer, more sustainable Australian communities in addition to a reduction in risk, damage and losses from future natural disasters. This “new” approach involves a fundamental shift in focus beyond relief and recovery towards cost-effective, evidence-based disaster mitigation. Consequently, while reactive disaster response plans remain important, the focus has moved to anticipation and mitigation against natural hazards. Geoscience Australia is developing risk models and innovative approaches to assess the potential losses to Australian communities from a range of sudden impact natural hazards. They aim to define the economic and social threat posed by these utilising a combination of natural hazard research methods and risk assessment models. The hazards considered in this body of research include earthquakes, severe winds, floods, landslides, storm surge and tsunami.