11 maart 2016

Observations on and opportunities for

flood risk management and emergency

management in Queensland

Herman van der Most

Research seminar at QUT

Background of observations

Visits to Wivenhoe dam, Ipswich city, State Disaster Coordination

Centre and related discussions

Participation in various events and courses: Brisbane 2036 Floods

Hypothetical; intensive course on Leadership in Disaster

Management of CEDM (QUT) and other workshops

Further reading of various publications.

Own experience: policy and planning of IWRM and FRM in

Netherlands and abroad; mainly at Deltares research institute, but

also partly at policy department of Ministry of Infrastructure and

Environment

Disclaimer:

lot of information in short period of time; impressions to be verified

11 maart 2016

Main observations

• Very strong focus on response and recovery and only minor

attention to prevention.

Just building back, In 2016 more buildings at risk than in 2011

(lessons learned?)

• Still limited attention for measures to take (at least at hypothetical)

• Brisbane River Flood Plain Management study still to start.

• Views of stakeholders in basin?

• Land use regulation by communities, city councils is a major

challenge

• Need and role is generally acknowledged, but implementation

faces various constraints (incl. legacy issues)

11 maart 2016

State Disaster Coordination Centre

11 maart 2016

Dedicated flood warning information within catchment context;

Prepare for better informed responses

Safety chain of EU Flood risk directive

Prevention: preventing damage caused by floods by avoiding

construction of houses and industries in present and future flood

prone areas; by adapting future developments to the risk of

flooding; and by promoting appropriate land-use, agricultural and

forestry practices;

Protection: taking measures, both structural and non-structural, to

reduce the likelihood of floods and/or the impact of floods in a

specific location;

Preparedness: informing the population about flood risks and

what to do in the event of a flood;

Emergency response : developing emergency response plans in

the case of a flood;

Recovery and lessons learned : returning to normal conditions

as soon as possible and mitigating both the social and economic

impacts on the affected population.

11 maart 2016

Prevention and response: can have it both?

In Queensland more attention needed for prevention. Better

regulation of land use would be a low regret measure.

A shift to a more preventive approach is also being promoted and

adopted internationally (EU-countries; Sendai framework)

NL is after 1953 a prevention dominated country. New flood

protection standards for 2050. But after hurricane Katrina growing

attention for evacuation and flood preparedness (NUWCReN).

Need for finding a better balance in our approaches to flood risk

and emergency management: diversify our risk, looking into both

resistance and resilience

11 maart 2016

Flood mitigation strategies

Flood mitigation strategies can be divided into two separate

approaches – controlling the action of water through infrastructure

vs living and working with water through community awareness

and resilient, affordable housing design and construction.

What is needed it seems is the development of a measured solution

that combines many ideas, both infrastructure and social. How can

we create resilient citizens and resilient housing while at the same

time accepting risk and protecting communities at the macro-scale

if necessary?

How can these large and small scale approaches be affordable for

Government and local homeowners at the macro and micro level?

(From report on Brisbane Charette; James Davidson architect et

al; Dec 2014)

11 maart 2016

Leadership in the transition to a new paradigm

Master classes on strategic level for government authorities and

community leaders on enhancing water governance of Brisbane

river catchment aiming at identification / acknowledgement of the

need for more integration on a river basin level, including need for

institutional arrangements / change.

Parallel with intensive course on ‘Leadership in disaster

management’ organized regularly by CEDM of QUT?

Serious gaming to raise awareness? Successfully adopted in New

Zealand to socialize adaptive thinking and to promote other views

and approaches

11 maart 2016

Legacy issues in flood risk management

Legacy issues turn up in most discussions on flood risk

management to the extent that these issues seems to paralyze

intelligent management actions. Ability to change seems minor.

Recurrent cycle of flooding, response and recovery. Lessons

learned should not only apply to a better response.

Interdisciplinary research (law, public administration, spatial

planning, economics, estate development, insurance, etc..) to find

appropriate ways, acceptable to society, to overcome these legacy

issues.

11 maart 2016

River basin authority for Brisbane river catchment?

Integrated river basin management promotes the integration of

water resources management, incl. flood risk management with

spatial planning and regional (economic) development

Integration on a river basin scale will help to:

Refrain of measures which significantly increase flood risk

elsewhere

Give proper consideration to spatial planning policy, giving

room to the river, natural water retention measures and climate

change

Facilitate the actual implementation of measures

Continuity in policy development, in coordination among

communities, may require a special river basin authority

11 maart 2016

Long term vision on Brisbane river catchment

Tune (future) land use to characteristics of river catchment:

potentials and limitations of the natural system

Look into both floods and droughts as well as to sediment control

Attention to co-benefits of green infrastructure through ecosystems

services (presentation Jim Smart at Hypothetical)

Elements for such vision are already in place, but in a rather

scattered way

Vision for the next decades and thereafter may be developed

through a research by design approach.

‘Design charrettes’ producing spatial plans which provide a

platform for integration and reconciliation of regional development

objectives with water and flood risk management objectives

11 maart 2016

Images from Brisbane Charette

11 maart 2016

Assessing future hazards of coastal flooding

11 maart 2016

Rationale for tiered planning zones

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Ipswich: a pilot area for planning of measures?

Expected increase in population from 175,000 (2011) to 435,000

(2031)

Sensitive to flooding (located near confluence of Brisbane and

Bremer rivers)

Ipswich Integrated water strategy 2015:

• Four strategic objectives with guiding principles

• High Priority Implementation Areas, incl. Floodplain

management strategy development and Establish an Ipswich

City Council water sensitive design (green infrastructure)

guideline

Could be an interesting pilot area to elaborate the vision into more

concrete measures to be taken

11 maart 2016

Flood resilience

Resilience is a buzz-word and triggers all kind of initiatives. For

example 100 Resilient Cities initiative of Rockefeller foundation

(Melbourne, Sydney)

Be aware these concepts may have different meanings or

emphasis in different domains

Operationalizing the concept of resilience for flood risk

management is also topic of research at Deltares

Interesting presentation on Flood resilience in relation to business

continuity at the Hypothetical by Phil Cowling

11 maart 2016

Resilience or isolation?

11 maart 2016

Critical infrastructure: cascading impacts

Interdependencies of various types of critical

infrastructure

Workshop last Tuesday on CIRCLE-method.

Possible application for Brisbane city or

Queensland?

Transport infrastructure to be include;

presentation of Don Bletchly at Hypothetical

Platform to engage network agencies/owners to

exchange information and to raise awareness

among stakeholders on interdependencies in

performance of critical infrastructure

11 maart 2016

Building back better?

After 2011 floods the previous situation has been restored

(budgetary and political reasons)

Question is not whether but when there will be a next flood

Worthwhile to prepare for building back better after the next flood

Experiences in NL (Deltaplan Large Rivers) and USA (Rebuild by

Design)

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction also promotes

concept of ‘building back better’

11 maart 2016

Concluding remarks

Interesting and pleasant two weeks period here in Brisbane.

Discussions and exchange of information, ideas help to question,

re-evaluate your own assumptions and approaches

Always been a supporter of a proactive, prevention based

approach (better to prevent than to cure) and will continue to be so

Better appreciation of response and recovery, and the importance

of preparing for these steps.

In the end it is about diversifying our risk. Having a vision and

ambition makes many things possible.

11 maart 2016