Are you ready?
Mt Tavurur erupting at Rabaul, PNG
(September, 1994)
Photograph courtesy of Jim Parker

Are You Ready? – CONTENTS
Chapter 1  Preparing for disaster
State of emergency declared for Katherine 1
Disasters around the world 1
What is the difference between hazards and disasters? 3
What is a hazard? 3
What types of hazards are there? 3
Why risk it? 5
Responding to hazards 6
Enquire, decide, act 6
Coming ready or not! 7
Chapter 2  Difficult to predict and almost impossible to escape
Tsunami destroys whole villages in PNG 8
Interview with Dr Sairere 9
PNG people and hazardous coastal locations 10
The context in which the disaster should be considered 11
A tsunami as a disaster, hazard and an emergency 12
Where else do tsunamis cause disasters other than PNG? 13
Is Australia at risk from tsunamis? 13
People-environment relationships 14
Chapter 3  Slipping and sliding
Thousands stranded by mudslides and floods 17
The view from Lawrence Hargrave Lookout 18
Mass movement hazards 18
What has happened in the Illawarra landslides? 20
The Thredbo disaster 24
The Gracetown cliff collapse 26
A Landslides Awareness pamphlet 27
Chapter 4  Bushfires
What fires need 31
History of fire in Australia 32
Bushfire Survival : A simulation game 37
Resources 39
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All text & graphics © 1999 McElroy
This version was published on 14 March 1999