2016

COMBINED

DISTRICT EMERGENCY

MANAGEMENT

COMMITTEE EXERCISE

POST

EXERCISE REPORT EXERCISE R.E.D.

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CONTENTS

1. Executive summary ............................................................................... 2

2. Exercise Concept ................................................................................... 5

3. The Exercise ........................................................................................... 6

4. Exercise Evaluation ............................................................................... 8

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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Exercise R.E.D. was written and facilitated by the Executive Officers

of the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance District Emergency

Management Committees. It was conducted on the 18th October

2016 at the Esperance Civic Centre, Council Place Esperance.

A total of 28 attendees from 12 agencies travelled from various

locations including Albany, Perth, and Kalgoorlie to participate in

the exercise. For details of attendees please refer to attachment 1.

The exercise scenario was developed to be a ‘worst case but

credible’ scenario utilising a level 3 natural hazard event designed to

reflect complexity of the emergency management environment.

The scenario was based on Tropical Cyclone Ned which tracked

south along the Western Australian coast in 1989, crossing the

south west corner and exiting into the ocean as a category one

cyclone between Hopetoun and Esperance. TC Ned caused wind

and flood damage across a large area in the south of the state, the

exercise reflected this having widespread impacts across the local

government areas of Narrogin, Lake Grace, Ravensthorpe,

Esperance and Dundas, encouraging participants to look at the

event from a strategic district focus.

Exercise R.E.D. was a syndicate progressive style

(discussion/desktop) exercise. Participants were injected into a

range of situations with questions and were required to formulate

and present a response on behalf of their agency. The exercise was

run as a continuous activity over half a day.

The exercise facilitators used capability areas from the Emergency

Management Capability Framework as a measure for evaluation and

to this end themed the objectives under the relevant areas for the

final analysis. Evaluation information was collected from the

participants throughout the day at the end of each special idea and

at the end of the exercise participants were asked to reflect on key

issues learnt and actions to be taken. Exercise facilitators collated

participant ideas and comments on evaluation forms throughout

the exercise. The details of the evaluation as measured against the

capability framework are listed in section 3.

While the aim of the exercise was to explore ways in which to build

closer inter-agency coordination (particularly across borders), the

exercise in itself provided an excellent opportunity for multi-agency

networking and relationship building, with many participants

sharing their processes, capabilities and limitations during

discussions.

This report captures outcomes in two ways, firstly facilitator

observations have been listed under “findings” and key actions

which participants wanted to see progressed have been identified

as “opportunities”. They are presented numerically in the order they

appear in the report.

Findings.

1. Though they were involved in the initial decision to hold this

exercise in Esperance, and keen to attend, due to some

operational and internal schedule conflicts many senior

district HMA representatives were not present at the district

exercise. This is reflective of real life events and illustrates

the limitations of these resources, particularly in an isolated

area such as Esperance.

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2. Participants fully understood the importance of inter-agency

coordination and discussed a number of strategies to ensure

this occurred in a major event. They placed significant

emphasis on the importance of professionally run and

effective multi agency support meetings in both

preparedness and response.

3. Participants were very aware of the difficulties that local

government in particular face when trying to maintain

current resource registers for their communities as part of

their Local Emergency Management Arrangements (LEMA).

They were keen to see agencies take the initiative and

responsibility to ensure their resources/contact details were

maintained and information shared. The main forums for

this would be the LEMC and DEMC, but could also include

pre-season exercises, workshops and other preparedness

activities.

4. The exercise facilitators were pleasantly surprised at the

understanding and willingness of agencies to support the

Comprehensive Impact Assessment (CIA) and the recovery

hand over process. The strategies suggested to assist the

HMA/CA were practical solutions that involved assistance

from themselves as members of ISGs or OASGs.

Opportunities.

1. Agencies be encouraged to take responsibility to ensure

their contacts and resource lists are updated and current on

all websites and lists. (Including LEMC/DEMC).

2. LEMCs and DEMCs to encourage more of a focus on cross

boundary contact lists, ensuring current lists extend to

include neighbours. Contact lists must have secondary

contacts, be well maintained and updated quarterly.

3. HMAs and CAs raise awareness with their local level staff to

ensure they have a complete understanding of the

established coordination arrangements for multi-agency

support groups and have awareness of the tools and

templates that are available to assist.

4. To develop a GIS tool with the ability to turn on individual

layers which indicate each agencies boundary and regional

centres.

5. Given the amount of impact to communications and

transport routes, further isolating the area, the participants

focussed strongly on the necessity to utilise the resources

available at the local level.

MOUs and understandings across local level organisations

(i.e. mining companies) and other agencies who may not

necessarily have an emergency management role, should be

sought through the LEMC during preparedness planning.

6. To ensure all agencies (such as the Water Corporation) have

access to the SEMC website and all district portals to access

contacts as required.

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7. Awareness needs to be raised across all agencies in regard

to their role in the collation of accurate information for the

CIA.

8. CAs could consider adding the CIA information as a standing

item on the ISG/OASG agenda.

9. The CIA template could be altered so that agency

information appears in separate agency sections, and this

can be provided as an attachment from each individual

agency.

Observation:

The facilitators would like to take this opportunity to highlight

policy is silent on where a report such as this one should be tabled,

where the findings and opportunities should be sent and what

actions should be taken from here. In the absence of clear direction

and as this exercise was a result of DEMC business it will be tabled

at the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance DEMCs for

consideration and provided to the exercise participants.

The facilitators took the opportunity to evaluate the overall

effectiveness of the methodologies used to run the exercise,

including the number of objectives, credibility of the scenario,

relevancy of all questions, delivery method and the evaluation

process. In conclusion, Exercise R.E.D. was considered to be an

excellent learning opportunity for participants who also provided

ideas on strategies to address the many challenges of multi-agency

coordination in the preparedness, response and recovery phases

across a variety of agency boundaries. By aiming to achieve key

objectives in the Emergency Management Capability Framework,

significant progress can be made to increase resilience across the

districts.

The Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance District Advisors

would like to thank all the agencies and participants for and

bringing a wide range of expertise to the table. Our thanks also to

the Shire of Esperance for their assistance and use of the Esperance

Civic Centre.

Cyclone weakens but WA braces

for 'perfect storm'

PHOTO: The bureau is worried a perfect storm could develop.(BoM)

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2. EXERCISE CONCEPT

In 2015 Western Australia experienced a number of significant

bushfire events. The first event being January 2015 when a lightning

strike started a bushfire in the Shire of Boddington and in

November 2015 a complex of bushfires affected the Shire of

Esperance. Both incidents held a number of commonalities; however

this exercise has been designed to focus on the issue of District

preparedness by addressing identified capability gaps in a multi-

agency environment. This translates to a need to explore factors

where there is a high degree of complexity surrounding agency

boundaries, areas of responsibility, resourcing, multi-agency

coordination structures, State EM policy and understanding the

impact ripple effect.

The Major Incident Review of the Esperance District Fires (March

2016) noted;

The district emergency management arrangements enabled a

broader set of agencies to plan for the response, although

differences in agency boundaries constrained this to some

extent

However, one breakdown in this broader level of regional inter‐

agency coordination was identified. There are differences in the

boundaries of emergency management response and support

agencies, which are different again from the emergency management

district boundaries. Esperance is in the Goldfields‐Esperance

emergency management district. This meant that the Esperance

DEMC agencies were not included in the DEMC briefings that took

place in Albany on 16 and 17 November, although all affected Shire

CEOs in the DFES Great Southern region were briefed by the regional

office. This may have resulted in a less coordinated response across

the whole of the region, with Esperance disconnected from the actions

being taken at a regional level by the DEMC.

DEMC Support to the Exercise Concept.

At its ordinary meeting on the 1 June 2016 the Goldfields –

Esperance DEMC discussed the need to conduct an exercise,

potential objectives, scenarios, attendees and dates. Due to the

cross boundary issues, an invitation was extended to the Great

Southern DEMC to participate. At its ordinary meeting held 7 July

2016 the Great Southern DEMC reviewed the proposal and agreed

to participate.

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3. THE EXERCISE

Overview

The Shire of Esperance is very remote. It is 700 kilometres from

Perth, 480 kilometres from Albany and 390 Kilometres from

Kalgoorlie. Exercise R.E.D was designed to take account of the

complexities of preparing for major emergencies in remote

locations, in particular where there are multiple single points of

failure in infrastructure, limited resources, competing priorities and

lengthy resource deployment times. The exercise focuses on

building relationships between departments and agencies from the

different emergency management districts and to develop an

understanding of roles, responsibilities, and resources.

Aim

To develop cross boundary emergency coordination arrangements

between agencies in major emergencies. To explore, verify and

build inter-agency and inter EM district relationships.

Objectives

1. To develop a sound understanding of where specific agency

boundaries fall.

2. To identify all agencies that might be involved. (Are they

captured in existing documentation, do we know who and

where they are?)

3. To share resource availability and limitations and ensure

realistic expectations of each other, and document for future

planning.

4. To identify challenges associated with responding to major

events in this remote area and document for future

planning.

5. To identify key personnel and ensure a comprehensive list is

developed to capture.

6. To test existing contact lists (processes and maintenance of)

of LEMC and district level agencies.

7. To highlight the importance of member and proxy

representation on DEMCs to ensure business continuity.

8. To explore the need for boundary alignment of key EM

agencies.

9. To highlight the importance of well-run OASGs, which are

supported by adequate administration and

telecommunication facilities.

10. Recovery is considered during the response stage of the

emergency

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Scope

The scope of this exercise was limited to agencies who are members

of the Goldfields-Esperance and Great Southern DEMCs and local

governments within the emergency management districts. It is

targeted at regional manager levels responsible for coordinating the

activities of their agency in a major emergency.

Scenario

The scenario for Exercise R.E.D was built on a credible worst case

scenario utilising the same methodology as the State Risk Project.

This was based on previous known events mapped out to ensure

the complexities of the issues could be explored.

Tropical Cyclone Den

25 March 2016 – 1 April 2016

Summary

A low that formed off the west Kimberley coast developed as it moved

to the west reaching cyclone intensity on 25 March 2017 well north of

the Pilbara coast. Den intensified reaching category 4 intensity early

on 27 March 2017 well to the west northwest of Exmouth. Den then

weakened owing to increasing wind shear as it moved southwards. A

strong mid-latitude trough approaching from the southwest accelerated

the remains of Den to the southeast crossing near Perth on the

morning of 31 March 2017. Strong winds were reported at Rottnest

Island and in the Rockingham area, and caused power disruptions,

isolated roof damage and minor flooding. The Great Southern and

Esperance regions experienced storm damage and flooding through

the area, particularly in Narrogin, the Lakes District and Esperance.

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4. EXERCISE EVALUATION

INTRODUCING THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

CAPABILITY FRAMEWORK

Western Australia has developed the 2016 SEMC Emergency

Management Capability Framework as a framework to assess

preparedness within Western Australia. There are seven (7)

capability areas and thirty-two (32) core capabilities. Each core

capability area is underpinned by an achievement objective. The

Emergency Management Capability Framework is the primary

vehicle used to collect agency data which informs the State’s Annual

Emergency Preparedness Report.

Exercise R.E.D benchmarked and aligned the exercise objectives and

performance measures with the Emergency Management Capability

Framework, the first known time this has been undertaken in

Western Australia. The net benefit of structuring the exercise in this

fashion is to provide measureable outputs against a state-wide and

accepted framework.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE – AGENCY

INTEROPERABILITY

Participants were quickly and easily able

to identify a complete list of agencies

that would be required to manage the

emergency scenario. The multi-agency

aspect of the working groups during the

exercise was the key factor in this.

However as they began to discuss and

identify agency boundaries and which

office should be contacted and was responsible for each particular

area, the complex nature of the challenges in regard to non-

alignment of agency boundaries was highlighted and created

lengthy discussion amongst participants.

Many strategies to overcome this were discussed and participant

suggestions are listed in Objective 1.

Of particular interest was the discussion around the importance of

Operational Area Support Groups (OASGs) and the role of the

District Emergency Coordinator (DEC). Though there was some

confusion amongst participants in separating the roles of Local

Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) and District

Emergency Management Committees (DEMCs) from Incident

Support Groups (ISGs) and Operational Area Support Groups

(OASGs), it was widely recognised that well run multi agency

support meetings were essential in both preparedness and during

response.

The actual understanding around the composition and

administration process of running these meetings was not well

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understood, and this may be a reflection of the fact that due a

number of operational factors there was a significant lack of district

level Hazard Management Agencies (HMAs) or Controlling Agencies

(CAs) in attendance.

Objective 1: To develop a sound understanding of where specific

agency boundaries fall

Exercise participants identified a comprehensive list of agencies,

locations of regional offices and areas of responsibilities. The task

clearly identified the complex nature and challenges of non-

alignment of agency boundaries and highlighted some of the

difficulties that could be experienced during an event.

Strategies to assist with understanding this complex issue during

large scale emergencies were suggested as below;

Preparedness measures are highly important and would include;

Comprehensive contact lists with secondary contacts. Must

be well maintained, updated quarterly. (LEMC/DEMC)

More focus on cross boundary contact lists, extend current

lists to include neighbours.

Good knowledge of response plans

Workshops to share cross agency and boundary

information

GIS tools were considered by many attendees as essential.

Mapping with the ability to turn on layers that indicate each

agencies boundaries and regional centres were considered

to be hugely beneficial.

During the event;

Google, websites (including the SEMC secretariat website)

Local knowledge.

Local and district contact lists.

Response plans

Effective ISG and OASG meetings.

Objective 2: To identify all agencies that might be involved. (Are

they captured in existing documentation, do we know who and

where they are?)

Participants found it relatively easy to identify which agencies would

be required for this large scale event. However identifying the

appropriate contacts and areas of responsibility proved far more

difficult. Exercise participants utilise resources such as Local EM

Arrangements, Contact lists to locate agencies. As part of the

exercise participants identified contact details for some of the

agencies by using

• The SEMC website

• Google

• A hardcopy of DEMC contacts

• A hardcopy of the Shire of Esperance LEMA

• Parks & Wildlife contact list

• Personal phone contacts

Strategies discussed included;

• Well maintained LEMC /DEMC contact lists.

• Agencies maintain their own 24/7 emergency contact lists,

could these be shared?

• All agencies to be aware of SEMC website and register

• Agencies to take responsibility to ensure their contacts are

updated and accurate on all websites and lists.

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Objective 5: To identify key personnel and ensure a

comprehensive list is developed to capture.

Participants were quickly and easily able to create a complete list of

agencies required to manage the emergency. The multi-agency

aspect of the groupings during the exercise was the key enabling

factor in this. As some of the key district Controlling Agencies was

not present, this task was completed by other agencies.

Participants comments included:

Brainstorming

Local knowledge

Previous incidents

First meeting – identify missing agencies

LEMC and ISG need to be involved.

The DEC works with the Controlling Agency to ensure all

emergency management agencies are represented

Participants were able to clearly articulate the role of the DEC and

outlined the following;

• Assist HMA in coordinated response during an emergency

• Provide advice and support to HMA and OASGs

• Assist in coordination of resources and information

Objective 8: To explore the need for boundary alignment of key

EM agencies.

This question was answered by participants at Objective 1 including

strategies to resolve issues.

Objective 9: To highlight the importance of well-run OASGs, which

are supported by adequate administration and telecommunication

facilities.

The exercise questions that relate to this objective were not well

understood by participants. Most comments related to the CA

providing updated information back to the OASG. There was very

limited understanding that the CA should be chairing and

administering the meeting.

Participants had limited understanding of the tools and templates

available to assist.

Participants were vague in relation to established coordination

arrangements and referred only broadly to state policy and plan

documents, but couldn’t articulate what they may be.

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Participant Reflection on inter agency coordination.

Participants provided the following comments on inter-agency

coordination;

Improve interagency coordination.

Consider allocation of a liaison officer between different

areas.

Coordination is the key, with relationships the foundation.

Lean on one another.

Coordination of multi agencies is essential early in response.

Comprehensive Incident management at this scale is too

complicated for one person or one agency, begin seeking

help from liaison officers etc early and get ISG/OASG up and

running quickly.

Met new people now in agency roles.

Importance of open communication between agencies,

identifying priorities and developing flexibility and

adaptability.

Findings:

1. Though they were involved in the initial decision to hold this

exercise in Esperance, and keen to attend, due to some

operational and internal schedule conflicts many senior

district HMA representatives were not present at the district

exercise. This is reflective of real life events and illustrates

the limitations of these resources, particularly in an isolated

area such as Esperance.

2. Participants understood the importance of inter-agency

coordination and discussed a number of strategies to ensure

this occurred in a major event. They placed significant

emphasis on the importance of professionally run and

effective multi agency support meetings in both

preparedness and response.

Opportunities:

1. Agencies be encouraged to take responsibility to ensure

their contacts and resource lists are updated and current

on all websites and lists. (Including LEMC/DEMC).

2. LEMCs and DEMCs to encourage a greater focus on

cross boundary contact lists, ensuring current lists extend

to include neighbours. Contact lists must have secondary

contacts, be well maintained and updated regularly.

3. HMAs and CAs raise awareness with their local level staff

to ensure they have a complete understanding of the

established coordination arrangements for multi-agency

support groups and have awareness of the tools and

templates that are available to assist.

4. To develop a GIS tool with the ability to turn on

individual layers that indicates each agencies boundary

and regional centres.

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RESOURCES

Some participants struggled with this

aspect of the exercise, for example

looking to set up IMTs in each

effected local government without

the ability to resource and manage

them.

The large scale impact and

subsequent drain on the districts resources was initially not well

understood. A gap in understanding also existed in relation to

inaccessibility given the large scale impact to roads and rail

networks. The exercise facilitators believe this may be attributed to

the lack of key district agency personnel in attendance, with many

participants not initially taking a strategic approach.

Objective 3: To share resource availability and limitations and

ensure realistic expectations of each other, and document for future

planning.

Participants suggested this should occur by;

• Having excellent preparedness measures in place including,

agency response plans, guidelines, assets registers, LEMA

resources lists emergency management and business

continuity plans.

• Participants placed a great deal of emphasis on both ISGs

and OASGS as a key means of communicating about issues

such as resource availability and limitations.

• They focussed on the necessity of having MOUs or similar with

neighbours and other agencies to allow sharing of resources.

Exer

Participants listed the following methods of communicating

availability of resources;

•In preparedness stages, LEMC resources register/contacts

directory, cross boundary arrangements. Exercises, workshops and

LEMCs to share knowledge.

• MOUs

• IMTs, ISGS and OASGs using briefings and Sitreps

• Public Information – call for specific resources

Participants were asked to examine existing documentation for

resources and compare gaps however did not achieve this in real

time within the parameters of the exercise.

Suggestions to manage resource documentation included;

• LEMA resource lists/contact directory

• Standardisation of arrangements across sub districts

• Debriefing – lessons learnt

• Auditing of resource and asset registers

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Participant Reflection on Resources.

Participants provided the following comments on resources;

Local use of staff from other agencies is being promoted

and should occur in the future.

Review of resource holdings on paper and actuals. Audit.

Findings:

3. The participants were very aware of the difficulties that local

government in particular face when trying to maintain

current resource registers for their communities as part of

their Local Emergency Management Arrangements (LEMA).

They were keen to see agencies take the initiative and

responsibility to ensure their resources/contact details were

maintained and information shared. The main forums for

this would be the LEMC and DEMC, but could also include

pre-season exercises, workshops and other preparedness

activities.

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PLANNING AND MITIGATION –

REMOTENESS PLANNING &

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING

Participants were initially surprised with

the size and wide spread impacts of

the worst case scenario as presented

during the exercise. They quickly

identified a range of impacts and

challenges from their agency’s

perspective. Strategies to deal with

these were more difficult for them to articulate however were

teased out in the wrap up session at the end of the exercise and are

listed below. They did note the importance of having maintained

resource logs/assets registers and placed strong emphasis on the

LEMC to keep them updated via agency representatives. As

previously described in a number of objectives above, in objective 7

contact lists were again emphasised as being critical to the success

of managing a major event and ensuring business continuity by

having proxies listed.

Objective 4: To identify challenges associated with responding to

major events in this remote areas and document for future planning.

Impacts and Challenges;

Multiple local governments and towns impacted. Response

resources (IMTs) would have to be spread over a number of

sites.

Damage to transport infrastructure will make it difficult to

mobilise responders, support staff, and all logistics (basic

supplies).

Loss of power will have multiple impacts including to water

supply and waste water, communications, public information,

other essential services, residents welfare and safety.

Participants thought this widespread event will cause

significant confusion, will likely result in duplication of effort,

difficulty receiving timely information, including vital missing

pieces of information, some patch protection amongst

agencies and a general lack of confidence by the public in the

response effort.

Displaced people. Multiple welfare centres with limited

support staff

Need for rescues, travelling tourists and campers and those cut

off by flood waters or damaged roads.

Stock losses and disposal

Confusion over reporting across multiple agencies and districts

Great need for public information and safety messages to be

available to the community, without power will be difficult.

Huge impost on local governments and their communities

who may be left to their own resources for some time before

assistance can be mobilised.

Ideas recorded for future planning;

Some lead time in this scenario, use to source equipment and

resources and pre deploy responders and support staff where

possible.

Need for interagency cooperation to ensure adequate

resourcing.

Local resources and personnel will need to be utilised.

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Mining companies can be approached re resources and

personnel.

ISGS and OASGs will be initially difficult to set up and resource,

but essential for multi-agency cooperation leading into

recovery works.

With 48 hours’ notice ADF can arrange military aircraft to assist

with delivery of essential supplies such as medicines, fuel,

generators and air lifting of patients etc…

Other aircraft may also be utilised.

ADF may also be able to assist with accommodation.

Participant Reflection on planning and mitigation in remote

areas.

Participants felt that such a wide spread event in a relatively remote

part of the state with limited communications and severely impacted

transport routes had the capacity to cause a great deal of confusion,

duplication of effort, and lack of confidence due to lack of key

information. Some strategies were discussed to address these issues

and included

Regular meetings and updates at the local level

Knowing who to contact and where. (all the previously

articulated preparedness measures in place)

Liaison officers at each meeting

Identification of restraints as early as possible.

Use of other agencies at the local level

Objective 7: To highlight the importance of member and proxy

representation on DEMCs to ensure business continuity.

Participants were asked to test contact lists for business continuity,

and while time did not allow for specific testing during the exercise,

some comments on proxies included;

• Important to have a second point of contact

• Multiple contacts need to be provided

• Many agencies systems in place including; diversions,

escalations systems, on call systems with a generic number.

Opportunities

5. Given the amount of impact to communications and

transport routes, further isolating the area, the

participants focussed strongly on the necessity to utilise

resources at the local level.

MOUs and understandings across local level

organisations (i.e. mining companies) and other

agencies that may not necessarily have an emergency

management role should be sought through the LEMC

during preparedness planning.

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COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT –

SECTOR INFORMATION

SHARING

Despite the targeted question for

this objective, few participants

referred to actual LEMA or District

contact lists. Some did refer to the

Shire of Esperance LEMA; however

no one thought to look at the LEMAs for other shires. Likewise one

agency had bought a hard copy of the DEMC contacts list which

was utilised.

Participants were noted sharing contacts including business cards,

website information and internal agency contacts to take back to

their workplaces to update their own contact lists.

Objective 6: To test existing contact lists ( processes and

maintenance of) of LEMC and district level agencies.

Comments on contact lists effectiveness and usefulness included;

• Maintenance is important

• Need to keep circulating contact lists for awareness and

checking.

• Essential services lists are important

• Are currently updated quarterly at meetings.

Participant Reflection on Sector Information Sharing

While this has already been mentioned in Objectives 1 and 3,

participants reflected on this with the following comments;

Development of effective contact lists. These should be

interagency and cross EM districts.

Ensure all appropriate agencies are represented at LEMC

meetings and maintain relationships.

Check that my agency has key contacts of HMAs in different

districts.

DEMC and LEMC contacts should be provided to our

operations control managers in the 24/7 ops centre. (Water

Corporation)

Importance of open communication between agencies,

identifying priorities and developing flexibility and adaptability.

Opportunity:

6. To ensure all agencies (such as Water Corporation) have

access to the SEMC website and all district portals to

access contacts as required.

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IMPACT MANAGEMENT AND

RECOVERY COORDINATION

Participants had an excellent

understanding of the need for the

recovery coordinator/s to be

involved in the early stages of

response. The concept of the

Comprehensive Impact

Assessment (CIA), its usefulness, and the handover process was well

understood. Excellent discussions were held in regard to strategies

that might assist the CAs in this process, and these are listed below.

Objective 10: Recovery is considered during the response stage of

the emergency

Participants made the following comments;

Recovery coordinator incorporated into ISGs and OASGs.

RC should be documented in recovery plan

Should be part of community liaison process and not have a

“shock” at the end.

Could be part of IMT, to ensure they are fully briefed on

issues and impacts.

ISGs lead into recovery

Utilise ISGs and OASGs

Agency updates

Maintaining accurate records

Collating information

Strategies that participants thought might assist the CIA in this

process;

Have the CIA appear as a standing agenda item on the

ISG/OASG agenda. This should be reflected on existing CA

templates.

Delegate a specific CIA officer/s.

Raise awareness with other agencies to enable them to bring

the appropriate information/reports to meetings.

Participants commented on the recovery handover process as

below;

Ensure discussions are held with the LG as soon as possible.

Pose likely timelines

Give time for LGs to organise recovery committees

Identify agencies that might still be required

Formal process, convene a meeting with affected LG and

perhaps the State recovery coordinator.

Final handover – success begins from the beginning of the

whole process, be informed of issues and risk during

briefings.

CIA will highlight impacts and risks at handover.

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Participant reflection on impact management and recovery

coordination.

Recovery is a big job and assistance from agencies is essential

Excellent to learn about the CIA.

Findings:

4. The exercise facilitators were pleasantly surprised at the

understanding and willingness of agencies to support the

CIA and the recovery hand over process.

5. One agency offered to act as a CIA officer to assist collating

information if the need ever arose again in Esperance.

Opportunities:

7. Awareness needs to be raised across all agencies in

regard to their role in the collation of accurate

information for the CIA.

8. CAs could consider adding the CIA information as a

standing item on the ISG/OASG agenda.

9. The template could be altered so that agency

information appears in sections, and this can be

provided as an attachment from each individual agency.

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Attachment 1. Attendees

Name Tittle Agency

Brian Sims Service Delivery Water Corp

Andrew Ducas Area Manager Water Corp

Drew Bennett Catchment Ranger Water Corp

Garry Drew Safety Officer Main Roads WA

Gary Logan District Officer (SES) Dept Fire &

emergency services

(DFES)

Steve Petersen Area Officer DFES

Derek Jones Area Officer DFES

Jo Spadaccini DESO (Wheatbelt) Child Protection &

Family support

(CPFS)

Lisa Devine CPFS Team Leader CPFS

Neville Blackburn DESO ( Great

Southern)

CPFS

Kim Dean Director ESU CPFS

Muriel Leclercq Manager ( Policy &

Leg)

SEMC Secretariat

Greg Clark ADF Liaison officer Dept of Defence

Maurice Murphy ADF Liaison officer Dept of Defence

Ryan Butler Regional Fire

Manager

Parks & Wildlife

Kieren Douglas Fire ops Parks & Wildlife

Dave Turnbull District Fire

coordinator

Parks & Wildlife

Rob Blok District Manager Parks & Wildlife

Todd Pender Esperance Sgt WA Police

Martin Voyez Superintendent -

Albany

WA Police

Richard Moore Senior Sgt -

Esperance

WA Police

Tony Colfer Inspector –

Goldfields

WA Police

Brendan Nicolls Manager Dept of Agriculture

& Food

Karen Naylor CESM Shire of Esperance

Mel Ammon Manager Shire of Esperance

Carla Jones Director of Nursing WA Country Health

Caris Ware Work Delivery

coordinator

Horizon Power

Donna Gibson Retail & community

manager

Horizon power