Australia: Lack of confidence in nation’s critical infrastructure as fears of natural hazards rise

A report released by MWH, a leading a management, engineering and construction firm, focusing on wet infrastructure, found that just one third of Australians believe the country's critical infrastructure is strong enough to withstand floods or cyclones, while only 14 per cent believe it could withstand an earthquake and 12 per cent a tsunami.

“These findings raise legitimate concerns about the future and should be incorporated into our planning processes as we repair the damage from recent events and move to deliver the hundreds of billions of dollars of infrastructure across Australia over the next few years,” said Peter Williams, MWH’s Managing Director, Australia.

“Natural disasters are impossible to avoid, and property and infrastructure cannot be made totally invulnerable. The only viable solution is to prepare our cities, towns and communities through a combination of mitigation and adaptation strategies" he added.

“Fortunately, as we build in our increasing intelligence into infrastructure planning and construction, we expect recovery from natural disasters to be easier in future. Wherever possible, we should be factoring in new design standards and allowing for the more extreme events we are seeing today.”