Governments and communities along the coast of Queensland and northern NSW are putting natural disaster preparations in place, as Tropical Cyclone Alfred is forecast to make landfall near Brisbane, on Friday.
The cyclone is predicted to become one of the most significant weather events in Australia’s recent history, with severe weather happening across several days.
Already northern NSW and south-east Queensland have seen torrential rain, high wind forces and large surf, with conditions expected to deteriorate as Cyclone Alfred heads nearer to shore.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has said the government is “preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best”.
“There’s a lot of people in harm’s way here. We’re talking about something like four and a half million Australians, potentially in harm way, 1.8m homes, and we expect that there’ll be billions of dollars of damage done by Cyclone Alfred and so the best thing we can do is prepare and stay informed, make sure that people are accessing all of the relevant information and getting it from trusted sources …”
“It’s rare for a cyclone to be this far south and to threaten such a huge population area, but we do learn from previous natural disasters.”
Last minute preparations are underway, as schools close, public transport shuts, down supermarket shelves sit bare and people decide whether to hunker down or evacuate their respective areas, based on forecasts and official warnings.
Despite a delay in Cyclone Alfred’s expected arrival, Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner is warning residents against being “lulled into a false sense of security”.
“This situation has continued to change. It will probably change again, but it is still a highly dangerous situation. It will still potentially bring significant flooding, and we need to take it seriously,” said Schrinner.
Speaking on coordination efforts currently underway, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “At the worst of times we always see the best of Australian character. I said yesterday that there were no political parties in this process, and there are no borders. Tropical Cyclone Alfred certainly does not recognise any borders, and nor should the government’s response.”
Natural disasters and gender
It’s been well documented that women are disproportionately affected by natural disasters, with climate change only exacerbating the problem.
Girls and women are now a staggering 14 times more likely to die in a disaster compared to men.
At the time of any disaster, statistics show women are more exposed to domestic and sexual violence. After the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, New Zealand saw a 40% rise in intimate partner violence in rural areas.
Women’s Agenda’s report, The Climate Load, also highlights the unpaid care work that lands on women’s shoulders during a crisis, alongside other consequences for women’s health– both mental and physical.
Women take on volunteering and coordinate efforts, and then continue with that unpaid work well after the immediate emergency period. Often, this leads to them becoming the mental health support for their family and community, as has been seen with flooding and bushfire crisis in Australia.