
Fijian coastal communities are facing the impossible decision to stay or relocate from their homes that are being impacted by rising seas and erosion
Several coastal Fijian villages in Vanua Levu are facing the impossible decision to relocate and lose part of their culture or stay and gamble with the possibility of being flooded.
Also, an outer island in Papua New Guinea is struggling with the rising cost of getting fresh water to their community members.
And a young Solomon Islander has been recognised as a leader in his community and he's hoping to bring fresh perspectives to the issue of climate change.
The weather and how it affects you is already part of your life, so let's keep talking about being prepared.
*Pacific Prepared is produced by ABC International Development with funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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2 days ago
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One-third of Townsville residents unprepared for flood emergency, report finds
Research has revealed that about one-third of people were unprepared for north Queensland's most recent flooding disaster. The data from James Cook University's (JCU) Centre for Disaster Studies also found confusion over evacuation orders and flood mapping in Townsville. The survey included 233 people in Townsville and its surrounds impacted by the region's flood emergencies between late January and April this year. The region saw severe flooding devastate the community of Ingham, while Townsville recorded its wettest year on record just three months into 2025. About 30 per cent of respondents said they did not have a disaster kit — a minimum of three days of essential supplies. The JCU report recorded more than $1.2 billion in damage, two fatalities from flooding, and now 35 deaths from an outbreak of the soil-borne disease melioidosis. The findings showed a slight increase in preparedness from the last time the survey was conducted following Cyclone Kirrily in January 2024. JCU's Yetta Gurtner said disasters were becoming a "day-to-day risk" and results showed a long way to go in preparedness. "The whole idea is that people should be self-sufficient, and emergency services are there as a priority need for those who can't help themselves." The Ollera Creek bridge — a vital supply route connecting Townsville and Ingham — collapsed into floodwaters in February. Dr Gurtner said experience indicated people now needed a minimum of five to seven days' worth of supplies when road networks and power supplies were cut. Dr Gurtner said there was also uncertainty over evacuation zones and flood mapping in Townsville. "A lot of people didn't understand what the different colours meant, what that meant in terms of the evacuation messaging," she said. A Townsville City Council spokesperson said evacuation advice was issued using the coloured Ross River Evacuation Zones — related to flooding from the Ross River Dam — and that the zones had not changed since 2016. "Due to the intensity and duration of the rainfall, some suburbs across Townsville experienced flash flooding outside of these zones," the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the Townsville local disaster management group issued updates using the nationally recognised Australian Warning System. Dr Gurtner said findings also indicated a significant portion of people were using Facebook as their primary source of information, secondary to the Bureau of Meteorology and local council disaster dashboards. "People using photos of the 2019 floods and saying it was from this event … often they over-exaggerated the extent of the impacts." Estimates indicate the damage bill from the February floods to be in the vicinity of $40 to $50 million for the Hinchinbrook Shire. Deputy Mayor and recovery chair Mary Brown said the council was conducting its own surveys on preparedness. "It's really important to reflect on how the event progressed, what we did well out of it," she said. "We're working through those results right now and trying to understand what we can learn from that and what we can do better leading into this season." Cr Brown said recovery works were progressing, but the shire was looking at a minimum of a two-year recovery period until it transitioned into its "new normal".

ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
Fijian village welcomes new dedicated evacuation centre after years of messages like ‘go anywhere where you can be safe'
In this edition: A Fijian village welcomes a much-needed new evacuation centre, giving their community a dedicated safe space to use when there's a disaster. And we step back through the International Court of Justice decision on climate change that was handed down recently and speak with someone on the ground in Vanuatu to find out how people feel about it. The weather and how it affects you is already part of your life, so let's keep talking about being prepared. *Pacific Prepared is produced by ABC International Development with funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

News.com.au
5 days ago
- News.com.au
‘Bigger, more frequent' hail forecast for Australian cities
Younger generations of Australians are being warned to expect significantly larger and more frequent hail into the future with a new study revealing which cities are most at risk. The paper from UNSW's Dr Timothy Raupach and Dr Joanna Aldridge looked at the possible changes a 2.4 degree rise in global temperatures would have on Australian hailstorms from 2080-2100. 'Between (time periods), there were increases in seasonal hail days of 29 per cent around Sydney/Canberra and 15 per cent around Brisbane,' Dr Raupach told NewsWire. 'Mean hail size increased by 0.5mm around Melbourne, Sydney/Canberra, and Brisbane, while maximum hail size, important for damage potential, increased by 7.8mm around Melbourne and 3.9mm around Sydney/Canberra.' Dr Raupach said any hail above two centimetres in diameter was considered damaging. 'Here we're talking about very large hailstones, sort of five centimetres or even 10 centimetres,' Dr Raupach said. 'Those are kinds of hail that can punch through people's roofs and cause their roof tiles to break and then you get flooding inside the house and of course they also can damage cars and be very dangerous for people as well. 
 'Because the damage you get from a hailstorm correlates very closely with the size of the hailstones that are produced by that storm, it indicates that in those regions we would be looking at an increased damage risk.' Data from the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) shows hail is already one of Australia's most costly natural disasters with the frozen water missiles responsible for more than 20 per cent of insurance losses in Australia from 1967 to 2023. Hail is also not currently part of the building regulations Australian constructors are expected to adhere to, it's a point Dr Raupach believes can be acted on now to strengthen our cities into the future. 'I think there's room for discussions around how they could be built in because hail already – even without the future climate forecast – causes really significant damage,' he said. 'It's a leading driver of insured losses year to year. 'So building in things like hail resilience into our building standards would be a really good way to start to strengthen our cities. And then we can also look at possible future changes as well.' Dr Raupach said the research was still in its early stages and further studies were needed to gain greater clarity and confidence in predictions. 'This is just one study, so it's looking at it from one angle. It's using one simulation and one model,' he said. 'Ideally, we'd have multiple simulations in what's called an ensemble where you have lots of different simulations and you can look at how much they agree or disagree.' For those who are confused how a rise in global temperatures equates to giant hail balls, Dr Raupach explained for every degree the atmosphere warms, it can hold 7 per cent more moisture. This added moisture means more 'fuel' for passing weather systems to draw on, when that weather system is a hail producing one it means larger and more damaging hail.