Climate Wise Communities is an award-winning initiative developed by Ku-ring-gai Council in consultation with emergency management agencies and government. Everyone has a responsibility to prepare for extreme weather events – households, communities, emergency management agencies and government all working together.

The program started in 2010 as part of Council’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. Initial efforts focused on Council resources and assets before widening to include the community and households.

Ku-ring-gai’s natural bushland provides vital habitat for native flora and fauna, and is a source of much enjoyment for our community. Along with the serenity and amenity of the bushland comes the risk of extreme weather events

With these online resources and the Ready Check we hope to actively engage individuals and communities in strengthening their homes and neighbourhoods.

Key objectives

• Raise awareness of local risk factors
• Promote shared responsibility for extreme weather events
• Build communication/social networks that enable communities to prepare, respond and recover from extreme weather events.

Actions

• Targeting ‘at risk’ community members
• Ready Check for personal/property/community readiness to extreme weather events
• Partnerships with councils, emergency management agencies, Non-government organisations and community groups
• Workshops, tools and access to experts to engage the community in preparing for extreme weather events.

The Climate Wise Communities program works in partnership with emergency combat and support agencies, as well as other related community services, to deliver the program.

In terms of the extreme weather events of bush fire, flood, storm and heatwave, the relevant emergency services are NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS), State Emergency Services (SES), Police and Fire and Rescue. Organisations such as Australian Red Cross, Department of Health, and Department of Education and Communities also have strategic roles in the response to and recovery from emergency events.

Local Emergency Management Committee

The Emergency Management Committee addresses extreme weather events across all agencies involved. This web site mainly deals with bush fire, flood, heatwave and storms run with the support of the associated agencies. Agencies include NSW Police, NSW Ambulance, NSW Fire and Rescue, Rural Fire Service, State Emergency Service, Volunteer Rescue Association, Marine Rescue, Ku-ring-gai Council.