Blueprint for Disaster Management RD&D Supporting the SDGs

Joint research between CDMPS and CSDILA, has recently explored specific connections between the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and disaster management.

In addition to our ongoing research within CDMPS, we continually monitor local and global events, and when these fall within areas of our expertise we aim to find a way to respond and make a positive contribution towards overcoming these challenges. Across Australia and globally, the last several months have presented several significant challenges that the CDMPS have responded to in multiple ways:

Responding to COVID-19

In response to the global pandemic CDMPS has collaborated with Victoria Police to develop a platform to support their current activities in relation to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Victoria. In particular, the platform supports the activities of their staff embedded within the State Coordination Centre working directly with Emergency Management Victoria

The CDMPS platform provides the following services:

Analytic capabilities for multi sourced data integration and cross checks with data streams accessible by Victoria Police

Victoria Police manages large volumes of information. In terms of data relevant to managing the spread of COVID-19 there is too much data to navigate and make sense of. CDMPS is assisting Victoria Police in live data integration. Additional analytics are required to extract the relevant information.

Evacuation and logistical modelling for resource management

Through the platform Victoria Police is able to plan and forecast the potential areas for evacuation and track the movement of assets and resources to provide feedback and operational assistance to other agencies such as Emergency Management Victoria, Ambulance Victoria or Department of Health and Human Services Victoria.

The platform is not available to the public, however its capabilities include:

  • Outbreak trajectory (mock-up geotagged data)
  • Impacted non-essential business
  • Clinics and testing centres
  • Population distribution age over 65 (2016)
  • Impacted venues
  • Supermarket
  • Live alert (EMV & RFS 24h)
  • Live CCTV
  • True colour composite 2km last two hours animation
  • Infrared + Zehr 2km last 2 hours animation

Responding to the 2019/2020 bushfire season

The devastating Australian bushfires exerted huge impacts on not only local communities, but also the millions of people living in Australia. During the months that the fires were active, to respond to this unprecedented disaster, CDMPS researchers developed a bushfire situation awareness application which aggregates live and near real-time information from multiple trusted sources for Australia.

The application is free for public access and provides live feeds, alerts and satellite images that are streamed and visualised seamlessly to represent the real bushfire situation and its impact on our environment.

Screenshot of the bushfire situation awareness application

View the application.

Following the conclusion of the 2019/2020 bushfire season, CDMPS has been continuing its support of the community by submitting a response to the Commonwealth Government’s Royal Commission into Australia’s National Natural Disaster Arrangements. The response from CDMPS is made with CDMPS partners in the context of their respective roles in the critical communications sector and in particular the mission critical (public safety) communications ecosystem and the role it performs both routinely and in times of natural disasters and pandemic such as we are experiencing at the present time.

A blueprint for disaster management RD&D supporting the SDGs

The global adoption of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, as well as the establishment of their general inter-relationship, has brought greater awareness to the critical significance of prioritising disaster preparedness and resilience to support countries and communities in their efforts to support sustainable development. With evolving hazard landscapes, including the intensification of disaster frequency and global impact, progressing sustainability is dependent on defining the specific linkages between priority research areas in disaster management and the individual SDGs.

This Blueprint presents the Sustainable Disaster Management Framework that establishes the detailed relationship between disaster management and the SDGs to guide future research, policy and innovation for sustainable development and disaster risk reduction. The framework outlines the steps necessary to answer the question “How can we translate our research into consistent and executable strategies that overcome disaster risks and sustainable development challenges cohesively?” In addition, the framework encourages effective partnerships and guides researchers to a comprehensive integration of the SDGs in disaster-research initiatives.

The Blueprint was initially announced at the 'The SDGs Connectivity Dilemma: Urban Settlements, Resilience, and Sustainability' forum as part of the 8th UN-GGIM Expert Committee meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York. Following this event, we hosted an International Symposium 'A Smart Sustainable Future For All - Enhancing Resilience in a Changing Landscape ', in co-partnership with The World Bank (the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery and the Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice) where we launched the Blueprint.