How a change in thinking might change the inevitability in disasters
Australia has significantly improved its ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. The country has, however, reached a point of limitation in our capability to conventionally mitigate the consequences of severe to catastrophic events. Here is what the author proposes to do:
- Accept the inevitability of disaster as a premise;
- Understand points of limitation, both externally and internally, in managing severe to catastrophic effects;/li>
- Get better at improving existing capabilities by reflecting on and implementing the outcomes of inquiries and other processes;
- Change the approach to residual risk by understanding that rarity does not diminish consequence;
- Explore residual risk as manifested consequence to identify complex problems and develop innovative, creative solutions well ahead of the event;
- Better understand how critical ethical aspects of leadership are in responding to the emotional and psychological effects of disasters.
Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Volume 30, Number 30, July 2015, Pages 48-55. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.