Case Study Reflection Five: Coping with disasters - Victorian Bush Fires 2009

When disasters strike, they strike hard & unexpectedly and the ramifications can be cataclysmic. It is imperative that urban planners seek disaster risk reduction strategies to ensure that their is a recognition of the deep connections between human settlements and risk profiles relating to disasters. These risk profiles can include defective infrastructure, the inter-relationships between larger cities and their surrounds and the impacts of cities themselves upon the surrounding environment. During the 2009 Victorian Bushfires, otherwise known as Black Saturday, an event deeply embedded as one of Australia's most devastating natural disasters, 173 people lost their lives whilst over 3,000 building were destroyed. Why did this happen? How did so many lives ended up being lost?

The events on the 7th February 2009 coincided with one of the hottest periods in Victoria's history with the mercury pounding to over 46 degrees in Melbourne whilst wind speeds didn't ease Mother Nature’s wrath with a staggering 115km/h in areas of utter dryness. This is a recipe for disaster in the context of bushfire risks however this disaster tells us more than what it is. So what went wrong? Well firstly residents that lived in the risk zones didn’t have a strategy in placed, rather more of a wait and see policy. Infrastructure wise, accessibility was at a minimum, electrical aging assets increased fire risks, and roads were narrow whilst buildings such as homes, schools and businesses were completely exposed to the fires. Location was also another reason for why these fires were so rampant. Dense bushlands surrounding poor infrastructure, especially old and faulty electrical towers should be seen as one of the primary reasons for the fires. The complete entrenchment of these communities in the bush accelerated the risk of collateral damage. As planners we must understand how to adjust communities to ensure they are less likely to suffer the full severity of natural disasters. Despite the Royal Commission’s recommendations to improve standards in buildings with local conditions in mind, I believe there are better alternatives to prepare communities for the worst from a planning point of view. These include forward strategic planning, design of settlements to ensure that there is a safe distance from hazardous infrastructure such as electric lines, development control to ensure that standards are strictly kept accordingly, improved building controls, improved warning and response systems so that residence are notified of any likely fires, community education, forestry management, and rules for reconstruction. Back burning on open plains will significantly reduce the risks of fire travelling from one patch to another with the assistance of the wind.

In the context of natural disasters, we as urban planners must create strategies and plans to ensure that disaster impact is kept at a minimal, in terms of human costs and infrastructure damage. The Victorian Bushfires gives us an understanding on the implications of poor planning and what the ramifications are when disaster strikes.

References

ABC (2010) Black Saturday, Available at:http://www.abc.net.au/innovation/blacksaturday/#/stories/mosaic (Accessed: 13th May 2014).