Although Australians (and our New Zealand neighbours) are no strangers to natural disasters, it does seem that the start of 2019 has dished out an unusual number of challenges for communities from the country’s far north to its far south.  

Townsville still faces a mammoth clean-up from what has been described as the “worst flood in living memory”. Initial figures show the flood levels in the Ross River were greater than a 1 in 500 year event and some areas of the Ross River Dam catchment received rainfall totals in excess of a 1 in 2000 year rainfall event.

Three people were killed; two during the flooding, and a third after contracting melioidosis, a rare bacterial infection lurking in the mud that inundated homes and businesses. Estimates have put the damage bill at $1 billion, including at least 500,000 head of cattle lost in the state’s north-west. At least 2950 homes were damaged, and continuing major repairs are needed to the areas roads, rail, water infrastructure and more.

Queensland’s Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey described sections of the Flinders Highway as “road confetti”.

"I was picking up bits of the road and bending them easily, like putty in my hands, so that gives you an indication of how much water has gone through there," he said. Queensland Rail crews noted damage to 204 sites and more than 300km of track on the Mt Isa trail line.

“It is going to be a long road to recovery, but I believe our community is up to the challenge – the spirit among residents has been incredible,” Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said in a statement.

Council crews have been kept busy with everything from spraying to reduce odours in waterways, stormwater drains and silted streets, to remove unstable trees affected by the torrential rain.

Further south, bushfires sparked by lightning strikes have destroyed at least 11 properties In eastern Victoria. As of March 6, more than 2000 firefighters were still working to manage fires burning across the state, including in Bunyip, Yinnar South, Dargo, Licola and Cambarville in the Yarra catchment.

And Tasmanians in the state’s south-west are still recovering from bushfires that charred sections of the UNESCO listed Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and wiped out seven homes.

Read our update on the Tasmanian fires here. 

The need for individual resilience

In the upcoming edition of inspire magazine, Darwin Durnie, Past President of the Canadian Public Works Association and Senior Principal of Stantec Consulting, recounts his experience with three of Canada’s largest disasters and questions whether we’re doing enough to ensure the resilience of the people who manage community assets.  

“We talk a lot in our industry about how to build resilience into our processes and our infrastructure projects. What we don’t often consider is the need to create resiliency for the people in our industry,” Durnie says.

“I have observed more than my share of large disasters in my career, including the last three largest disasters to hit Canada, measured in dollars. I can say, without equivocation, the time to deal with this issue is now.”

He says that, in the flurry of activity that follows a disaster, the need to return to 'business as normal' puts a huge amount of pressure on public works teams, who may feel that they should or could have done more to prevent the disaster's impacts.  

“In emergency situations we hear great stories of the public’s resilience to literally ‘weather the storm’, flood, fire or earthquake. We don’t forget the pets and every disaster has a great story about a beloved animal on the front page," he says. 

“The first responders, whether police, fire or emergency medical perform heroic feats which sometimes go unsung but are often recognised with regimented and traditional ceremony in a timely manner. We commemorate the passing of an event, celebrating accomplishments and remembering the losses.

“This all often happens while public works is still cleaning up the mess. There is no time to participate in the celebration – furthermore, many industry members feel like there is nothing to celebrate in the aftermath of a disaster.

“In fact, they consider it a failure on their part. I have personally observed the loss of many talented personnel in the aftermath of major events due to this feeling of failure.”

When ministers or Prime Minsters visit affected areas to survey the damage and offer words of encouragement, Durnie warns well-meaning statement like, “This will never happen again” can amplify the feelings of failure that the public works team feels.

“This is an incredible load on anyone’s shoulders. While it is not the intent to blame, when we look at it through this lens, it is clear where the sense of failure can come from,” he explains.

In Wellington, New Zealand, there’s a 10% chance the Wellington Fault will rupture in the next 100 years. If that happens, parts of the city could be without drinking water for up to 100 days.

Wellington Water enlisted Stantec to inform parts of a resiliency strategy in the event of ‘the big one’. Senior Water Network Engineer Cedric Papion tells inspire that while it’s essential to plan for asset resilience, it’s the concept of individual resilience that will decide how a community responds and bounces back from disaster.

“In an emergency, the asset is bound to not do what you expect and it is down to the organisation to be ready and respond,” he says.

“Is there a plan in place if certain key people are not available? Is there sufficient redundancy of skills and knowledge? Alternatively, is the system simple enough that several people can fix it and run it? That is organisational resilience.
 
“Will the community be an asset or a liability? Would people have the will and the means to assist each other? That is community resilience.

“Fundamentally, will the individuals thrive in response to shocks and stresses? Is the plant operator in good health? Are the community coordinators over-worked and exhausted? Does the welder have someone to look after the kids so the main pipe can be repaired? No response plan is complete if these questions haven’t been answered.”

As our communities and organisations recover from the spate recent natural disasters, it's important that we keep the wellbeing of the public works departments and personnel in mind, and build that resilience into future strategies. 

What do you think? How can we promote individual resilience during natural disasters? If you're an IPWEA member, log in and share your thoughts in the comments section. Don't miss the March/April edition of inspire magazine, arriving in members' inboxes March 25, where we'll share many more stories focused on resilience.