Australian Emergency Management
This website provides the key online access point for emergency management information from the Australian Government. The Australian Government Minister responsible for national emergency management and disaster resilience is the Minister for Emergency Management, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP. The site provides information about Australian and regional emergency management, in a national security context, including content on policy formulation, national emergency operations and development of national and international capability. For more information please visit our organisation.
National Guidelines for Managing Donated Goods
Attorney-General and Minister for Emergency Management Nicola Roxon and South Australian Emergency Services Minister Jennifer Rankine, have launched guidelines to ensure that communities in need receive appropriate donations following a disaster. The National Guidelines for Managing Donated Goods provide a nationally consistent and planned approach to supporting appropriate donations following natural disasters in Australia. For more information read the National donating guidelines to best help communities in need media release.
Community Recovery handbook .png)
Attorney-General and Minister for Emergency Management Nicola Roxon, has launched the revised Community Recovery Handbook at the Disaster Resilient Communities Conference. The Handbook provides a comprehensive guide to disaster recovery in Australia for use by community planners and those involved in working with communities to design and deliver recovery processes, services, programs and activities. View the handbook on the Community Recovery Handbook page. Read the Minister’s speech.
2012 National Awards for Local Government
Federal Minister for Local Government Simon Crean has announced the category winners of the 2012 National Awards for Local Government. The Attorney-General’s Department sponsored award for Land-Use Planning – Addressing disaster risk and enhancing resilience was won by Lockyer Valley Regional Council, with Northern Grampians Shire Council taking out the Small Council award for this category. For details of the winners of all awards, please read the Category winners announced for 2012 National Awards for Local Government media release.
Before the Storm – A game for iPhone and iPod touch released by Attorney-General 
A free mobile phone game designed to help students and families better prepare for severe storms, is now available at Apple-iTunes.
Attorney-General and Minister for Emergency Management Nicola Roxon, who launched the ‘Before the Storm’ mobile phone game at Harkaway Primary School today, said the game was a timely reminder of how important it is for communities to be disaster resilient, and well prepared for severe weather events.
“Big storms can be frightening for kids but learning what to do when a natural disaster strikes will be as easy as pulling out your iPhone and playing ‘Before the Storm’,” Ms Roxon said.
“The devastating floods here in Victoria and in New South Week this week prove how important it is for communities to be well prepared for severe weather events”. " I encourage teachers to use this storm awareness tool to broaden knowledge about disaster resilience and to make it a catalyst for discussion and learning in the classroom,” Ms Roxon said. The game – able to be played on an iPhone or iPod touch – also introduces concepts of recovery after disaster events, including cleaning up safely after a storm and repairing items that have been damaged..png)
More information about the ‘Before the Storm’ game can be found on the Emergency Management for Schools website or please read the media release Disaster Resilience Mobile Phone Game Released . The game is available at Apple-iTunes
Latest Disaster Assistance Information
4 May 2012 - Community recovery underway in Wagga
27 April 2012 - Direct flood assistance for New South Wales
24 April 2012 - Additional flood assistance for New South Wales
12 April 2012 - Additional flood assistance for Victoria
12 April 2012 - Additional flood assistance for New south Wales
12 April 2012 - More flood assistance for New South Wales and Victoria
5 April 2012 - Australia Government floods assistance tops $17M
DisasterWatch Smartphone app passes 10,000 downloads
The free DisasterWatch phone app providing news and information about disaster events in Australia was released in December 2011. Since its launch, more than 10,000 downloads have been recorded. Following the considerable interest and favourable feedback generated by the app, we now want to further engage with the emergency management sector and the broader community to ask for their ideas about other innovative ways of communicating with and educating people about disaster risk in Australia. For more information read the Free DisasterWatch smartphone app passes10,000 downloads media release.
Bushfire Arson Prevention website
The Minister for Emergency Management launched a new website in a national bid to reduce the number of deliberately lit bushfires in Australia. The Bushfire Arson Prevention website aims to educate the community about arson and provide the public with the tools to identify arson risks and report suspicious activity. The website was developed in recognition of the important role the community plays in detecting suspicious behaviours of arsonists and working with police to keep the community safe. For more information please visit the Bushfire Arson Prevention website or view the New website to tackle bushfire arson media release.
Disaster Mapper – an interactive resource for schools
The Attorney-General has launched an innovative new web resource to help school students and teachers find information about disasters. Aimed at year 5-10 school students, Disaster Mapper – an interactive resource for schools provides statistics, images, video and text for more than 50 significant disasters that have occurred in Australia since the 1900s. For more information please visit the Disaster Mapper page (Emergency Management for Schools website) or you can read the media release, Disaster Mapper to teach kids about natural hazards (former Attorney-General's website archive).
National Strategy for Disaster Resilience
In February 2011 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) adopted the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience. This Strategy provides guidance on building disaster resilient communities across Australia. To read the Strategy please visit the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience page.
Triple Zero (000)
Knowing how to call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency can be the difference between life and death. The Triple Zero (000) service is the quickest way to get the right emergency service to help you. It should be used to contact Police, Fire or Ambulance services in life threatening or emergency situations. Calls to Triple Zero (000) are free and can be made from mobile, home, payphone and work phones. For more information please visit the Triple Zero (000) page.
Please note that the URL and name of this website have changed. The website is now called Australian Emergency Management. The new URL is www.em.gov.au. Please update bookmarks to your favourite pages.