Preparing for future disasters becomes critical as third La Nina approaches
The ICA has urged the importance of preparing for future disasters, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting a third year of La Nina to impact eastern Australia across spring and possibly summer.
With communities in south-east Queensland and NSW still recovering from storms and floods earlier this year, the ICA has warned for property owners to take actions now to reduce risks ahead of the coming wet season.
The ICA has advised for property owners on five steps for preparation, which members are also encouraged to review with their clients:
- Review building, contents and landlord insurance policies to ensure that flood and storm cover, as well as cover for temporary accommodation, are all included.
- Avoid being underinsured by reviewing building and contents sum-insured and ensuring that the sum reflects current costs for replacing repairing and rebuilding your home and contents.
- Check if insurance coverage is adequate by preparing an inventory of all contents in the home, room by room. The list can also save time at claims time.
- Ensure the necessary coverages are in place before the La Nina season, as some insurers may place temporary embargoes in cases where storms and floods are imminent.
- Reduce risk around the property through maintenance, such as clearing gutters and downpipes and ensuring roofs, windows and doors can hold up against heavy rainfall.
For more information, visit the Insurance Council of Australia website here.
Close to $60 million funding granted for Northern Rivers businesses
Six large businesses based in the Northern Rivers have been granted $59.3 million through the Anchor Business Support Grant Program, intended to assist the community with flood recovery and building resilience to future floods.
With the businesses employing close to 1,400 members of the Northern Rivers community combined, the funding aims to support continued employment in the region, while ensuring key business premises are rebuilt to be more resilient with better flood preparation and mitigation practices.
The program is funded by both the Federal and NSW Governments through the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, which also funded the Small Business Northern Flood Grant and Medium Size Business Grant earlier in the year.
For more information, click here.
New national leadership for disaster and emergency management
The Federal Government has announced the appointment of Australia’s first Coordinator-General for National Emergency Management.
The role has been assigned to Brendan Moon, previously the CEO of Queensland Reconstruction Authority who was instrumental in leading the state’s disaster response and subsequent rebuilding.
The new role will ensure the newly created National Emergency Management Agency provides national leadership and coordination for disaster management, respond better in times of emergency, and drive long-term disaster preparedness.
Building disaster resilience across Asia-Pacific
This week, Australia is hosting the 2022 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, where over 3,000 delegates from over 40 Asia-Pacific countries and across various backgrounds come together to share their knowledge and accelerate progress on disaster risk reduction.
The four-day conference, taking place in Brisbane from 19-22 September, is hosted in partnership with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
Asia-Pacific region serves as the most disaster-prone region in the world. As the first conference of this kind to include the full participation of Pacific Island countries, this marks an occasion for the region to work together in finding solutions to reduce risks.
For more information, visit www.apmcdrr.undrr.org.