National emergency collaboration

Government agencies across the country have joined forces to develop a new emergency operations system, designed to synchronise Australia's disaster response and save lives.

Known as Hazwatch, the prototype system has been extensively trialled by agencies in WA, Queensland, Victoria and NSW for counter terrorism, bush fire fighting, and search and rescue incidents.

It will be operationalised under a million dollar partnership agreement signed between the national Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI), State Governments in WA and Victoria, and Perth-based software developers NGIS Australia.

Gary Nairn, Special Minister of State and Federal Member for Eden-Monaro, welcomed the announcement: "I am very pleased to see the Hazwatch project come to fruition. This is an exciting development and one that will bring great benefits to the community."

The WA Department of Land Information and the NSW Department of Lands have a key stake in the project which will be developed by iintegrate Systems, a subsidiary of NGIS.

Hazwatch is the first CRCSI research and development project to reach the commercial stage. It brings together a wide range of information in real time, giving crisis managers the facts they need to make timely, accurate decisions under pressure.

According to CRCSI Chief Executive Peter Woodgate, the recent spate of natural disasters has highlighted a crucial need for improved communication and coordination between all parties involved in crisis management, including command centres in different agencies, rescue teams in the field, community decision-makers and the public. Hazwatch is particularly effective when emergencies cross state borders and involve many agencies.

"Cyclone Katrina in the US, the tsunami in south-east Asia, and major bushfires in Australia have all demonstrated how difficult it is for emergency agencies to coordinate their people and resources and how often they are forced to work with information that is inaccurate and out of date."

"The result can be an enormous waste of resources and significantly increased risk to life and property."

Hazwatch was designed with input from land management and emergency service experts around Australia, and caters for each phase of the disaster management process including planning, response and recovery.

It is backed by the chief executive officer of Lands NSW, and chairman of the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council, Mr Warwick Watkins, who said the system offered the first common platform for emergency agencies to share live information.

Hazwatch is driven by a powerful location and mapping engine, developed by iintegrate Systems, that combines data from public and private sector sources, plus operational reports from the field, to build a detailed picture of an emergency as the crisis unfolds. This information is then available to emergency personnel via the Internet, hand-held devices and mobile phones.

A key strength of the system is its ability to connect many types of information, previously locked away in private and public databases, and to make this available instantly to emergency response teams from many different agencies and jurisdictions.

"Ultimately, we hope all State Governments and lead agencies will become involved. By contributing to Hazwatch now, they will be helping to improve national coordination in emergency management in Australia," Mr Woodgate said.