$4m shot in the arm for projects to reduce natural disaster risk

Five national projects to reduce the risk and impact of
natural disasters on Australian communities are getting $4.2 million in new
federal funding.

The largest grant of $3 million will go to the Bushfire Building
Council of Australia to develop a self-assessment app to provide site-specific
mitigation guidelines to improve resilience.

The CSIRO will receive just over $1 million to invest in
three projects to:

• Develop an online tool for identification of community
  evacuation risk hotspots for bushfires;
• Advance development of an evacuation modelling
  tool for use in operational, strategic and risk planning by emergency sector
  stakeholders; and
• Develop and deliver a post-bushfire survey app
  (and training) for use by professionals in assessing loss context, cause and
  vulnerability.

The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
(DPIE) is getting $170,000 to build a framework to assess the vulnerability of
Aboriginal cultural heritage to fire.

All five projects support the objectives and priorities of
the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework, as well as the recommendations
of the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements.

The funding forms part of a five-year disaster risk
reduction package backed by the federal, state and territory governments to
better understand and minimise disaster risks and strengthen resilience at
national, state and local levels.

In related news, the National Recovery and Resilience Agency will shortly begin consultations with Commonwealth agencies and states and territories on national risk-reduction initiatives for funding in 2021-22.