30/01/2006 - The Commonwealth Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, Jim Lloyd, Tasmanian Minister for Police and Public Safety, David Llewellyn and Commonwealth Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Greg Hunt today announced the release of a community survey to assess the level of flood awareness throughout Tasmania.
The survey is being carried out as part of a larger project titled Floods and You which has been funded through the Natural Disaster Mitigation Programme with the support of both the Australian and Tasmanian governments.
"All levels of government have a role to play in flood mitigation but getting the community actively involved is equally important," Mr Lloyd said.
"The development of a range of education materials through the Floods and You project by the Tasmanian Flood Warning Consultative Committee will do much to help Tasmanians understand the risk that they face from floods and what to do when a warning is issued.
"Such projects are a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of the Natural Disaster Mitigation Programme and the progress being made in reducing the impact of floods and other natural disasters throughout Australia," he said.
Mr Hunt said that the survey would be carried out to unearth significant memories that community members had of flooding in their local area, and to assess general community awareness of the flood risk within their municipality.
"Surveys such as this are vital to improving the effectiveness of flood mitigation efforts, in particular the flood warning services provided by the Bureau of Meteorology," Mr Hunt said.
"Flooding has an average annual cost of nearly $7 million in Tasmania and the effectiveness of warning services and appropriate response measures are dependent on a good understanding of the flood risk to communities.
"I am particularly pleased with the cooperation between the Bureau of Meteorology and the Tasmanian State Emergency Service on this important project," he said.
Minister for Police and Public Safety, David Llewellyn welcomed the announcement saying that a collaborative effort between governments and the community as a whole was essential in protecting Tasmanians from floods.
"I urge all concerned people to consider their vulnerability to flooding and to spend the time to provide the valuable information being collected through this community survey," Mr Llewellyn said.
The survey can be either completed on-line or downloaded from www.floodsandyou.org, or posted out to people on request. The survey is available to all Tasmanians and is seeking to discover significant memories that community members have of flooding in their local area along with a better understanding of the general level of community awareness of the flood risk within their municipality. The information gathered through this survey will also be used to determine the content of a soon-to-be-available Flood Awareness website.