Review(s) of: Fire Mountains of the Islands: A history of volcanic eruptions and disaster management in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, by R. Wally Johnson, Published by ANU e-press in 2013, eISBN: 978-1-922144-23-2.

Review(s) of: Communities Living with Hazards by David King and Alison Cottrell, Published by: The Centre for Disaster Studies, James Cook University, ISBN 0864437528.

A GIS-based regional reconnaissance-level assessment of landslide risk to the Cairns community has been carried out to provide information to the Cairns City Council for planning and emergency management purposes. Magnitude recurrence relations were tentatively established for the two main slope processes: landslides on the hill slopes; and large debris flows extending out from the gully systems on to the plains. From the recurrence relations, landslide hazard (H) was estimated as the annual probability of a point being impacted by a landslide. The nature, number (E) and geographic distribution of the elements at risk were obtained by interrogating the GIS, and their vulnerabilities (V) to destruction by the two main landslide slope processes were assessed. From this information, specific risk (= H × V) and total risk (= H × V× E) maps were produced.

The United Nations International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR)gave rise to an increasing level of attention to the risks posed by a range of naturalhazards and the development of strategies by which to reduce those risks. It waswidely recognised that in order to evaluate risk treatment strategies it was necessaryto `measure' the level of risk that already existed and the level of risk that would beencountered with the treatment strategy(s) in place. This paper outlines the methodology developed under the AGSO (now GeoscienceAustralia) Cities Project to quantify the risk associated with storm tide inundation. It includes the methodology for `measuring' the level of community exposure to storm tide hazards and the methodology for `measuring' community vulnerability. The Far North Queensland city of Cairns is used as the case study to demonstrate the application of these methods.

There is little doubt that tropical cyclones (TC) pose a significant threat to the urban communities of South-East Queensland. These spectacular meteorological phenomena are very large in scale, and have the potential to bring severe loss to the whole region. On long-term average, 1.2 cyclones pass within 500 km of Brisbane each year. The most active cyclone season on record (1962/1963) saw 7 cyclones passing into the region. In the past 92 years of detailed record, the centres of 15 of these storms have passed within 100 km of downtown Brisbane. An historical inventory of cyclones effecting the region is included in Appendix D, based largely on a listing of historical events compiled from many sources by the Bureau of Meteorology’s Queensland Regional Office in Brisbane.

On a global scale, Australia, as a whole, is a very safe place. We do not suffer the losses from cyclones and floods experienced in countries such as China or Bangladesh, nor are we exposed to the threat of great earthquakes, like those experienced in recent times in Chile, the west coast of the USA, Japan, Taiwan and Turkey. Australia, however, is far from immune from the impact of significant natural disasters, given that such events cost the Australian community around $1.14 billion annually. The recent Bureau of Transport Economics (BTE) study into the economic costs of natural disasters in Australia (BTE, 2001) shows that over the period 1967 to 1999, Queensland experienced 71 major disasters with a total estimated cost of $7.9 billion (1999 dollar value), second only to the NSW total of $16.0 billion from 83 major disasters. It should be remembered, however, that for the last 24 years of this 34 year period Queensland has been relatively free of major cyclone and flood disasters.

A GIS-based quantitative landslide risk assessment was carried out in the Cairns area to provide information to the Cairns City Council on landslide hazard, community vulnerability and risks for planning and emergency management purposes. Magnitude recurrence relations were tentatively established for the two main slope processes: landslides on the hill slopes and large debris flows extending out from the gully systems on to the plains. From the recurrence relations, landslide hazard (H) was estimated as the annual probability of a point being impacted by a landslide. The nature, number (E) and geographic distribution of the elements at risk were obtained by interrogating the GIS, and their vulnerabilities (V) to destruction by the two main landslide slope processes were assessed. From this information, specific risk (= HxV) and total risk (= HxVxE) maps were produced. Landslide risk may increase as development extends further into the hill slopes. Large debris flows could impact on subdivisions at the base of the slopes. Blockage by landslides of roads and railways could cause isolation of the community. Flash flooding in Freshwater Creek, or debris flows, have the potential to disrupt the Cairns water supply by blocking the intake or destroying sections of the pipeline.

Includes picture. Publishers details for: Natural Perils in Australia and New Zealand, by Russell Blong, David Sinai and Colin Packham, Published by Swiss Re Australia Ltd 2000, ISBN: 0 646 40547 0.

Intense rainfall can trigger a landslide causing large mass of rock, debris or earth down a slope blocking a road or railway and causing inconvenience and economic loss. In Cairns, landslides will remain a significant risk factor because as development extends further on to the hill slopes and potential runout areas for large debris flows, landslide risk can increase especially if adequate mitigation measures are not taken.

A study into the information infrastructure of disaster management in the Pacific Island Countries is presented to ensure delivery of the information. Direction, collection, processing and dissemination are the four processes of information management and the development of profiles of need and the identification of the essential elements of information are the integral parts of the information management process that lies at the heart of any information infrastructure.

A report detailing the research towards the mitigation of the risks posed by a range of geohazards such as earthquake, landslide, flood and cyclone to Australian urban communities in Cairns is presented. The project is undertaken by AGSO Cities Project with an ultimate objective to improve the safety of communities, and consequently make them more sustainable and prosperous.

The Australian Geological Survey Organisation's Cities Project established in 1996 undertakes applied research directed towards mitigation of risks that are posed by a range of geohazard and faced by Australian urban communities. The main focus of hazard science research is based on mechanisms that cause, create, generate or drive hazard phenomena, like what causes earthquakes and what influences transmission of their energy through different strata.

Australian Geological Survey Organisation (AGSO) Cities Project was started to determine the vulnerability of Australian urban areas to the effects of geological hazards and provide decision supports for the emergency managers, planners and other administrators in urban centres, which will aid in the mitigation of geological hazards. The strategies are designed to improve the methodologies for assessing geological hazard phenomena, to develop the methodologies, to analyse the aspects of the community, and to develop the databases relating to historic hazard phenomena occurrences.