Brisbane
Australia

Resilience, response, and recovery forum: a whole of community response with Craig Fugate, former FEMA Administrator

Organizer(s) Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience
Venue
Theatre, Queensland Museum
Date

About the forum:

Contemporary problems in emergency management and crisis preparedness demand new approaches.  The old ways of doing business do not apply.  Although many observers recognise the importance of public-private partnerships, this concept does not go far enough. Rather, modern systems of resilience and preparedness should be built upon a whole of community orientation - one where we recognise that effective resilience, response, and recovery depend upon the joint efforts of not just governments, but also the private sector, non-government organisations, and the impacted communities themselves. 

Several factors drive this trend:

  • Governments in most countries do not own much of the key infrastructure (e.g., electricity in the United States)
  • The private sector is better placed to deliver a range of services because:
    • They have more nimble and robust supply chains;
    • They have high incentives to restore themselves quickly - the best way to evaluate the health of Florida communities after a hurricane is to see if the local Waffle House is open;
    • Even though firms compete in the marketplace, we have found that in fact they cooperate with each during disasters.

The key for governments today, therefore, is to enable the success of the private sector and communities in doing the things that they would otherwise be doing, but for which they do not have adequate resources, information, or approvals.  Among the messages for contemporary emergency managers are:

  1. Engage the private sector and community early in your planning; bring their representatives into your emergency operation centres;
  2. Support the private sector and community partners in their efforts to deliver services, where necessary;
  3. Get out of their way by appropriately relaxing regulations and other obstacles;
  4. Share the credit for success.

The globe has witnessed plenty of lessons of how not to build resilience and conduct response.  A whole of community approach is a positive lesson that treats all of us as partners.

Who should attend?

This forum is designed to benefit a wide range of practitioners and sectors including:

  • The emergency management sector
  • Local, state and commonwealth government departments with a focus on emergency management 
  • The private sector and others interested in resilience, response, and recovery from an emergency management lens. 

This forum will provide an opportunity to learn from an international subject matter expert, and an opportunity to translate international practice into a local context.

How to register

To register, visit the AIDR website.

Attachments

Event flyer , English

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