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Recommendation 3: Develop and promote a community preparedness strategy

Find out what the government is doing in response to this recommendation from the IGEM Review of 10 years of reform in Victoria's emergency management sector report.

The actions on this page are identified in the Victorian Government response to Recommendation 3 from the IGEM Review of 10 years of reform in Victoria's emergency management sector report.

IGEM Recommendation 3: Community preparedness

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management (IGEM) recommends that Emergency Management Victoria, in collaboration with the community and emergency management sector, develop and promote a preparedness strategy that:

  • is relevant to all emergencies
  • is aligned with existing community resilience initiatives
  • includes a clear, consistent and accessible preparedness message
  • builds on the community preparedness work of the Australian Red Cross
  • considers leading practice from other jurisdictions.

Actions

Action 3.1: Enhance the ‘prepare and get ready’ section of VicEmergency app and website to inform community preparedness

The VicEmergency App and website have been designed to promote shared responsibility for all emergencies, providing platforms to share information to empower individuals to make informed decisions and better support their communities.

The 'Prepare and Get Ready' section of the VicEmergency App and website detail:

  • what preparedness arrangements communities can undertake to avoid situations becoming an emergency
  • what they can expect in response to one.

Emergency Management Victoria will continue to enhance this section to inform action-based community preparedness.

Action 3.2: Clarify shared roles and responsibilities for emergency management through the State Emergency Management Plan

Emergency Management Victoria will deliver the first Victorian State Emergency Management Plan (SEMP) in September 2020. The SEMP will clarify the roles and responsibilities of different actors with a shared responsibility for emergency management, including:

  • individuals and households
  • community groups and networks
  • small, medium and large businesses, and the emergency management sector.

Action 3.3: Review community resilience and preparedness strategies to inform future performance measures

Emergency Management Victoria will work with the sector to review existing community resilience and preparedness strategies and initiatives and measure their effectiveness.

The review will inform a future performance framework aligned with sector outcomes developed through the response to the Review’s sector-wide outcomes.

Action 3.4: Consider national and international best practice to inform community preparedness strategies

As part of this review, Emergency Management Victoria and sector partners will consider:

  • integrating and building on the community preparedness work of the Australian Red Cross and the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework (or revised national policy)
  • exploring best practice from other national and international jurisdictions.

Action 3.5: Conduct a review and refresh of the Victorian Preparedness Goal, in partnership with community

Emergency Management Victoria will work with the sector in partnership with communities to review the Victorian Preparedness Goal by June 2022.

The updated Victorian Preparedness Goal will further promote the principles of shared responsibility and self-reliance and will be informed in part by the outcomes of the review’s risk assessment recommendation.

It will also build community awareness of the capability, capacity and resilience required in preparing for, responding to and recovering from emergencies.

For more information, refer to the IGEM progress report

Updated