Psychological preparedness for disasters

                   

Disasters are unpredictable, destructive events that can impact in a range of ways, disrupting lives and communities.  More and more people realise the importance of also preparing ourselves for how we might feel in an emergency. 

Being psychologically prepared goes hand-in-hand with being practically prepared for emergency situations.

Australian Red Cross with the assistance from the Australian Psychological Sociery has prepared the following booklet to assist you in being psychologically prepared for an emergency.

Disasters are unpredictable, destructive events that can impact in a range of ways, disrupting lives and communities.  More and more people realise the importance of also preparing ourselves for how we might feel in an emergency. 

Being psychologically prepared goes hand-in-hand with being practically prepared for emergency situations.

Australian Red Cross with the assistance from the Australian Psychological Sociery has prepared the following booklet to assist you in being psychologically prepared for an emergency.

DisasterWatch app

In 2011 the Attorney-General's Department released the free DisasterWatch phone app to improve access to disaster information on a mobile platform during natural disasters. This project received National Emergency Management Program funding for 2011-12.

Technology has grown rapidly in Australia— increasingly people access the internet via mobile devices. Mobile applications can help people access government services and data, creating innovative ways to use information and deliver services to citizens.

The DisasterWatch phone app provides publicly available news and information about disaster events in Australia via direct feeds from a range of authoritative sources in the States and Territories and nationally. The information will be regularly updated.

Please note: this app does not provide direct emergency alert warnings to users.

DisasterWatch is available from the Google Play and from Apple-iTunes (search for DisasterWatch).

Be Prepared (SES Guides)

To enable communities to prepare for an emergency, The State Emergency Service and Australian Emergency Management Institute (AEMI)  have produced a number of publications covering a wide range of emergencies. Some of these publications have been converted for online access and are listed below:

• General Information
• Flood
• Storm
• Bushfire
• Lightening
• Heatwave
• Landslide
• Earthquake
• Tsunami
• Animals in Emergencies
• Standard Emergency Warning Signal
• Community Awareness Links

Prepare and Emergency Plan

Tasmania is exposed to a number of natural hazards and it is your responsibility to have a plan in place to protect yourself and family should any event occur. Kingborough strongly recomends that everyone reads the Australian Red Cross RediPlan which can be downloaded from their website here.

As bushfire season is almost here we strongly urge residents visit the Tasmania Fire Service website which provides a range of advice. 

What you can do about the health impact of bushfire smoke

By Martine Dennekamp, Monash University and Fay Johnston, University of Tasmania

In recent days, we’ve seen dramatic pictures of thick smoke from bushfires hanging over Sydney. Our first thoughts are with people living in the immediate vicinity of the fires, and the threat to their lives and properties. But there’s another matter that affects a lot more people, and that is the health effect of bushfire smoke.

As bushfire smoke can cover very large areas, including major cities, it has the potential to affect millions of people and is a significant public health problem.

To see what you cane do to manage the risks read the original article.