When disasters cut off remote towns for weeks, a strategic approach is required to coordinate limited resources to restore essential services and revive normal life.
Queensland experiences more natural disasters than any other Australian jurisdiction. Over the last five years, the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) have declared an average of 11 events in the state per year.
Natural disasters can endanger lives, destroy properties, and disrupt businesses. But the aftermath of these events can be extensive and long-lasting – including economic losses, soil erosion, water contamination, and disruption to daily life due to destruction and damage to infrastructure.
Disaster recovery poses several key challenges, particularly in regional and remote areas, which often bear the brunt of large-scale natural disasters, said ConnellGriffin Advisor Sophie Lyons.
“Finding enough resources is always a challenge, including people, machines or materials,” she said. “Sheer remoteness of some damaged locations can cause delays in delivering the reconstruction.”
Long-term flooding prevents access, isolating some communities for weeks, with significant power and communications outages also occurring.
But there is an upside.
“People in regional Queensland always band together to help others,” Lyons added.
What does a disaster recovery effort involve?
There are many types of services offered during disasters.
In terms of infrastructure, emergency planning occurs in the lead up to and during disasters, including:
- The coordination of resources
- Traffic management such as road closures and detours
- Communications
“Immediately after a disaster, crews work to reopen the roads and make it safe as soon as possible,” Sophie said.
Severe or widespread events such as cyclones can be very stressful and overwhelming – making it difficult to know where to start.
“These events also personally affect first responders, who, along with their friends and families, may lose their homes and businesses.”
Where resources are limited it’s impossible to tackle everything at once.
“We need to be sure that the available resources focus on priority sections first, including major freight routes and access for emergency services. Prioritisation helps manage the complexity of disaster recovery, and ensures that the most immediate and impactful needs are met, while setting the foundation for long-term rebuilding efforts.”
What are the different stages of disaster recovery?
After a disaster, emergency works (EW) are initiated to make roads safe and passable, ensuring immediate access for emergency services and the public, Lyons said.
“In the roads sector, this includes clearing debris, repairing temporary road surfaces, and addressing any immediate hazards.”
To fund emergency works, damage photos need to be captured to prepare emergency works submissions for QRA to reimburse the infrastructure authorities such as local governments.
“It’s vital that the damage capture and submissions are prepared appropriately, otherwise the costs may not be reimbursable.”
EW must be completed within three months of the end date of the activated event, or three months from when the asset becomes accessible.
To reconstruct an essential public asset damaged by an eligible disaster to its pre-disaster function, immediate reconstruction works (IRW) are carried out.
Rather than temporarily fixing damage to get a road or site safe and trafficable, IRW skips the EW phase – which requires permanent restoration under the Reconstruction of Essential Public Assets (REPA) category of funding – and moves to permanent restoration immediately.
“In other words, the asset is restored to its pre-disaster function within three months of the end date of the event, and the district [or] local government area does not need to go back and revisit the site,” she said.
Meanwhile, permanent reconstruction under REPA entails rebuilding and restoring infrastructure to its pre-disaster condition, or even improving resilience against future events (betterment).
Reconstruction works include preparing detailed submissions to QRA, with all eligible works required to be completed within two years from the end of the financial year in which the event occurred.
Through its dedicated Disaster Recovery service line, ConnellGriffin works with State government and local councils to repair critical infrastructure post event.
“ConnellGriffin assists with damage capture, preparing emergency works submissions, and liaison with QRA,” Lyons said.
Supporting regions through the various stages of disaster recovery, the service provides assistance with scoping, design management, preparation of tender and contract documents, cost tracking and funding submissions, project management, and coordination of resources.
What’s the role of specialist project managers?
With multiple projects across various sectors taking place simultaneously during disaster recovery in regional Queensland, project managers need a broad knowledge base.
“Regional projects often struggle with limited resources, difficult access and greater distances between key locations,” Lyons said. “So project managers need to be skilled in managing these constraints and coordinating logistics.”
Building strong relationships with local stakeholders, navigating regulatory requirements and adapting to changing conditions are a must.
Engaging and upskilling the local workforce is also key.
“It’s important for businesses to be open to flexible or remote working opportunities and collaborate with educational instructions to raise awareness on the opportunities available in regional Queensland.”
To streamline disaster recovery processes and facilitate key infrastructure projects, bringing on additional project managers and engineers is essential.
“There is so much work happening in the regions, and like all other resources it can be a challenge to attract project managers and engineers,” Lyons said. “With all technical skills and expertise in demand, project managers in the regions get to experience diverse work opportunities.”
