Heatwave resilience and impacts

Heatwaves pose a particular threat, having killed more people in Australia than all other natural hazards combined. Heatwaves disproportionally impact vulnerable populations such as the very old, the very young, outdoor workers and those with existing medical conditions.

The National Heatwave Warning Framework was recently developed and articulates the heatwave warning ecosystem and roles and responsibilities across the event. This includes the Bureau of Meteorology’s provision of 7-day forecast decision support to agencies. As a new joint service, it is critical to review how the public, media and local government agencies interpret and use these new products and to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing harm from heatwaves. 

In addition to extreme heat, smoke pollution from landscape fires is a globally significant public health problem (Johnston et al., 2012). The health impacts of this pollution are known to be substantial and are often combined with periods of extreme heat.

The full impacts of heatwaves are largely undocumented with recordings of actual mortalities difficult to determine and injuries from accidents and the mental health load unknown. Without a true picture of the tangible and intangible impacts and costs it is difficult to properly plan, respond and reduce risks. Current building codes do not account for extreme heat and are only designed to perform against average temperatures. In many cases changes have been maladaptive, with buildings designed to be cooled through air-conditioning units rather than through adaptive design. 

The project will:

• explore the efficacy, reach and impact of the national heatwave service which includes the Bureau of Meteorology’s decision support and warning products and agency heatwave warnings
• develop a methodology to enable accurate, near real-time mortality reporting from extreme heat events
• explore the full impacts and costs of extreme heat events
• explore the electricity sector’s role in community vulnerabilities to extreme heat and opportunities for adaptation.