While emergency services remain at the frontline of disaster response, effective preparedness relies on a much broader network of organisations, local governments, services and community leaders working together.
This special AIDR webinar will bring together experts from emergency management, government, and community services to explore current seasonal outlooks, preparedness priorities and practical actions organisations can take ahead of the season.
Participants will hear diverse perspectives on supporting communities during emergencies, including considerations for inclusive evacuation centres and shelters, and gain access to tools, resources and knowledge that can strengthen organisational capability and community resilience.
Presenters
Seasonal update
Felicity Gamble
Bureau of Meteorology
Lynette Bettio
Bureau of Meteorology
Perspectives on inclusion and diversity in disasters
Karleen Gribble
University of Western Sydney
Karleen Gribble is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Western Sydney University. She is the author of more than 90 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on infant feeding, child protection, and child rights and is a world leading researcher and policy maker on infant and young child feeding in emergencies.
Karleen has provided advice to UN organisations, governmental and non-governmental organisations, health and child protection professionals, and emergency responders in many countries on protecting infants and young children in emergencies. She was Project Lead for the Australian Breastfeeding Association’s Community Protection for Infants and Young Children in Bushfires Project which worked to improve emergency preparedness and response in Australian emergencies.
Richard Ogetii
Albury Wodonga Ethnic Communities Council (AWECC); Multicultural Emergency Management Partnership (MEMP)
Richard leads advocacy and initiatives that strengthen the voice, wellbeing and leadership of multicultural communities across the border region. He is the Co-Chair of the award-winning Multicultural Emergency Management Partnership (MEMP), championing inclusive emergency management and demonstrating how community leadership can influence systems, policy and practice. Richard has also contributed to research examining the emergency preparedness and resilience of migrant communities, helping to shape more equitable, culturally responsive approaches to disaster planning, response and recovery.
As a lawyer and multicultural community leader, he is passionate about systemic change that positions communities not as recipients of decisions, but as co-designers and co-creators of the solutions that affect their safety, preparedness and resilience. He also serves as Chair of the Regional Multicultural Alliance – Victoria.
Bridget Tehan
Australian Red Cross
Bridget Tehan is Senior Advisor – Humanitarian Diplomacy at Australian Red Cross, working to provide advocacy, sector convening, and thought leadership at a national level. Bridget has more than 15 years’ experience in emergency management and disaster resilience policy and practice. She has significant expertise in community resilience, including in strengths, needs and priorities of people who may be at greater risk before, during and after emergencies as well as their needs in the mitigation, transition and adaptation to climate change. Bridget also has expertise in the role of community, social service and not for profit organisations in emergencies and disasters at local, grass roots and strategic levels.
Bastien Wallace
People With Disability Australia
Melesa Osborne
Gender and Disaster Australia
Hosts
John Richardson
Executive Director, Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience
Dr Mayeda Rashid
Manager Capability Development and Engagement
Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience