For the last few decades, and informed by abundant evidence, a distinct and explicit shift in thinking by agencies has taken place to raise the awareness and develop resilience within communities. Based on the fact that no agency has the resources required to defend and protect every property during a major emergency event, communities will once again need to be prepared to accept some responsibility for their own safety and work with agencies to be best informed as possible

State and Territory agencies have long recognised the need to improve their systems and processes to ensure communities receive timely and relevant advice to assist them to take appropriate action when confronted with emergency situations

The challenge for agencies is to encourage the community to acknowledge the risk and work with them to prepare them psychologically and physically to take appropriate action and then communicate timely and appropriate information and warnings during an emergency to those who need it.

There are a range of elements that need to be in place to improve the effectiveness of community advice and warnings and ultimately contribute to better community safety outcomes.

These elements are:

1. Preparing the community
2. Situational awareness
3. Message construction and dissemination
4. Appropriate action taken

Research in this area of the site examines the warning systems used to alert communities of approaching emergencies. The research looks at types of warning systems, delivery methods and the relationship between the media and emergency service agencies.

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