Flood victims’ continuing struggle to find suitable housing long after the February-March flooding subsided has exposed a critical gap in our plans for recovery from natural disasters. The planning system should be reformed to include temporary housing that provides effective options in the short term (weeks) through to the long term (years). Australia needs to develop a permanent reserve of temporary housing.
Flood victims’ continuing struggle to find suitable housing long after the February-March flooding subsided has exposed a critical gap in our plans for recovery from natural disasters. The planning system should be reformed to include temporary housing that provides effective options in the short term (weeks) through to the long term (years). Australia needs to develop a permanent reserve of temporary housing.
The earthquake even prompted building evacuations in Newcastle, NSW, the scene of Australia’s most damaging earthquake on record in 1989. That quake, which had a magnitude of 5.6 and an epicentre roughly 15km southwest of the Newcastle CBD, killed 13 people and hospitalised 160, and left 1,000 people homeless.