PREPARE: Disaster Risk Awareness Expo

Agenda

• 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

  10AM - 12PM | Climate Fresk Workshop - Dr Roy Tasker, Resilient Blue Mountains

  Cost: $25 - includes tea and coffee This interactive, transformative, and scientifically rigorous workshop is built on extensive experience with over two million participants globally and the latest social science literature. You should leave the two-hour workshop with a clear, optimistic, and active attitude on the climate issue, and ideas for how to accelerate the green transition from a systemic perspective in your own life. What will you do? The first part involves making sense of, and connecting, graphic cards that take you from the causes of the climate crisis to the far-reaching consequences. The second part involves expressing your emotions when you consider the full impacts of the crisis. The third part shows how you can convert hope into action – firstly as an individual, then collectively, and if possible, for a systemic impact. If you want to move beyond the headlines and mis- and disinformation and truly understand the causes driving the climate and biodiversity crisis, and their consequences, this workshop is for you. No scientific background is required — only curiosity, a willingness to engage thoughtfully with the science, and a wish to make an active difference in your own way.

• 10:30 am - 11:00 am

  10:30AM - 11AM | Community led Recovery: Blue Mountains Black Summer Bushfires - Vicki Edmunds, Blue Mountains City Council

  Vicki Edmunds has worked with Blue Mountains City Council in a number of roles. With a restructure in July 2019, Community Development was added to Vicki’s portfolio which also included Community Disaster Recovery. Hitting the ground running with the 2019/20 summer fires, Vicki led the Council response to Community Recovery. Vicki will talk about: - 2019/20 Black Summer Bushfires – Blue Mountains - Community Recovery Manager – role of Community Health & Wellbeing Sub-Committee - Advocacy at State and Federal levels of Government

• 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

  11AM - 12PM | Hidden hazards before disaster strikes: asbestos and hazardous materials - Jason Adams, Blue Mountains City Council

  Disasters can turn hidden hazards into serious health and safety risks. Many homes, sheds and outbuildings across the Blue Mountains contain asbestos and other hazardous materials that may remain unnoticed until they are damaged by a bushfire, storm or flood. This session will help residents identify common hazardous materials around their property, understand the risks they present during emergencies, and learn practical steps to reduce exposure before disaster strikes. Through local examples and real-world scenarios, attendees will gain the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about preparedness, maintenance and safe recovery.

• 11:00 am - 11:30 am

  11AM - 11:30AM | Community Development: support for planning in emergencies - Sophie Davis, Blue Mountains City Council

  Free - donations appreciated

• 11:00 am - 4:00 pm

  11AM - 4PM | iFire Immersive Bushfire Simulation (30-minute slots)

  Free - donations appreciated Extreme fires have doubled in frequency and scale since 2000 and are projected to double again by 2035. As fires become more frequent and intense, they are also harder to manage, increasing risks for responders, residents and communities. Experience iFire 2.0, an immersive visualisation system that lets you step into a dynamic fireground and explore different bushfire scenarios. At the Expo, you’ll be able to use the system, test “what if” scenarios and talk with the iFire and UNSW team about how immersive technology can help us better understand and prepare for extreme bushfires.

• 11:30 am - 12:15 pm

  11:30AM - 12:15PM | Wildlife care during natural disasters - Tracy Burgess, WIRES

  Free - donations appreciated Come along to a talk with WIRES exploring the impacts of food scarcity on native wildlife during and after disasters. Climate change is bringing more frequent and extreme weather events, affecting not only wildlife but also the food and habitat they rely on — as seen during and after Black Summer, when around 85% of Blue Mountains bushland was burnt. The session will also touch on emerging threats such as the current avian influenza (bird flu) situation in NSW, and what this means for native wildlife and the community. Learn how you can provide appropriate food and habitat in your own garden, find out how WIRES is responding to these challenges, and discover how you can be part of the solution.

• 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

  12PM - 1PM | EmergencyRedi Workshop - Milo Prado, Australian Red Cross

  Free - donations appreciated You’re invited to attend a FREE community workshop delivered by Australian Red Cross. This workshop will help you to prepare for emergencies. It provides you with an introduction to emergency preparedness, helps you start your own emergency RediPlan and gives you the information and tools to continue preparing yourself, and those you care about, for emergencies. As part of Help Nation, an NRMA Insurance initiative, this workshop will also help you learn about your local risks

• 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm

  12:30PM - 1PM | Rural Fire Service: Community bushfire preparedness

• 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

  1PM - 1:30PM | Fire & Rescue NSW capability in the Blue Mountains and home fire safety

• 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

  2PM - 3:30PM | Stronger together: community as disaster resilience - Jen Hall, Permaculture Matters

  Free - donations appreciated When disaster strikes, it is often our communities, rather than our infrastructure, that determine how well we recover. The strength of those communities, however, is not built in the middle of a crisis. It grows through the connections, trust and relationships we nurture long beforehand. This interactive workshop explores the important role that neighbours, local networks and shared knowledge play in helping communities prepare for and respond to challenging times. Together, we'll explore how the simple act of building stronger connections today can make a meaningful difference tomorrow. What you'll take away: • Why strong community connections are one of the most powerful tools for building resilience • How deep listening creates trust and strengthens relationships • Why established relationships make it easier to communicate and make decisions during times of crisis • Practical steps you can take to build or strengthen resilience within your local community

• 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm

  1:30PM - 2PM | Storm & snow preparedness: build your capability and resilience - Michael Biber, NSW State Emergency Service

  Free The NSW SES Community Engagement Framework outlines the value community engagement brings to communities, our volunteers and our organisation. It outlines at a strategic level, who we engage with and why and how we engage with community and our partners in all facets of our work. When responding to an incident, NSW SES can use existing local community connections and networks. These ongoing partnerships ensure we plan, prepare, respond and recover together, in collaboration with communities and follow a continual cycle of building NSW SES and local community capability. Building the capability of our communities through engagement is all about: - Understanding the local risks - Understanding how people live, work, and play in local areas - Understanding how communities connect, meet, share and come together - Building relationships, networks and connections within and across communities - Co-creating with communities to develop and share resources, which are targeted to community needs and priorities, but which also identify gaps in community capability - Build capability with communities to meet gaps, when developing shared resources and local plans - Exercising local plans - Feeding local capability information, hazard intelligence and learnings from exercises, back into the planning process​​​​​​​

• 1:30PM - 3PM | Japanese Cooking Class: Temaki-zushi (vegetarian) - RFS Fundraiser

  Cost: Donation - suggested $50 (minimum $25 to cover equipment costs) - the remainder goes to the Rural Fire Service Join Harumi Hayakawa for a fun and hands-on introduction to one of Japan’s most sociable styles of sushi: temaki-zushi (hand-rolled sushi). Participants will learn about sushi rice, nori and a variety of vegetarian fillings, and will have the opportunity to prepare some of the vegetables themselves before creating their own hand-rolled sushi. Harumi will demonstrate the basic preparation and rolling techniques, followed by plenty of time for participants to make, share and enjoy their own creations. The workshop is designed to be accessible to beginners and offers an enjoyable introduction to Japanese food, cooking techniques and food culture.