Australia is a country of diverse communities and environments. At any time of the year, it is possible to have simultaneous bushfires raging in the west, widespread flooding in the east and tropical cyclones threatening landfall in the north. These natural disasters have a significant impact on Australia’s communities, economy and the environment. Although we cannot prevent natural disasters, having a better understanding of the exposure to these events can inform more effective prevention, preparedness, response and recovery (PPRR) decision-making across all levels of government. Exposure refers to the elements at risk from or natural and man-made hazard events. Knowing who and what is at risk is imperative for the role of Emergency Management Australia (EMA), within the Attorney General’s Department, to administer the Australian Government's financial assistance for response and recovery during major natural hazard events. Lacking spatial expertise, EMA commissioned Geoscience Australia (GA) to enhance their event reporting with improved situational awareness mapping. The aim was to support their decision-making process with innovative, timely and efficient access to fundamental nationally-consistent spatial data and disaster event information. GA addressed this requirement by designing an Exposure Report – a streamlined yet detailed snapshot of exposure information for any area of interest across Australia. The Exposure Report is generated by consolidating a range of national fundamental datasets to extract relevant attributes and present the information in a timely, concise and easily accessible report. The automated process quickly aggregates information for a variety of standard administrative boundaries or hazard-specific footprints. It includes important exposure information such as estimated population and demographic indicators, buildings, business and infrastructure asset counts, reconstruction costs, and identifies agricultural areas, commodities and their value. The customised report provides the information EMA requires in a way that can be readily accessed and interpreted to make timely and informed emergency management decisions. The request and delivery of the report are also integrated into EMA’s incident management system to simplify the coordination, access and accountability between government departments. GA has enhanced the Australian Government’s ability to prioritise response and recovery assistance by improving the access to detailed exposure information in a timely manner. EMA now has ready access to consistent baseline exposure information for any area across Australia, leading to not only better-informed response and recovery but also to planning, preparedness and mitigation initiatives to build more resilient communities.

Geoscience Australia (GA), in partnership with the Bushfire & Natural Hazard CRC, has made available the Australian Exposure Information Platform (AEIP), for users to access nationally consistent exposure information.

This product is an aggregation of the Australian Exposure Information Platform (AEIP) by the Local Government Area (LGA), 2020 LGA boundaries. The aggregated information is from version 6 of the Australian Exposure Information Platform. In 2002 Geoscience Australia (GA) embarked on the development of the National Exposure Information System (NEXIS) project in response to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) reform commitment on Australian’s ability to manage natural disasters and other emergencies. Public access to NEXIS has been limited to products based on Local Government Areas or ABS Statistical Areas. In 2013, the Bushfire and Natural Hazard Cooperative Research Centre, Geoscience Australia led a three year research project in collaboration with University of Melbourne and the University of Canberra, to document a comprehensive Natural Hazard Exposure Information Framework. The objective was to fully describe and categorise exposure information elements in a consistent framework to be used as a reference for developing future exposure information systems. In 2018, in partnership with the Bushfire & Natural Hazard CRC, Geoscience Australia has made available the Australian Exposure Information Platform (AEIP). The aim for AEIP was to make nationally consistent exposure information, directly accessible to key stakeholders involved in emergency management situation awareness, risk assessments, impact analysis research, and disaster management. The Platform combines the extensive work from NEXIS and the comprehensive ‘Natural Hazard Exposure Information Framework’, by providing user’s direct access to national Exposure Information. It includes 'elements' on building, businesses and people; public facilities and infrastructure assets; agricultural commodities, and environmental holdings within Australia. Exposure Reports provides a detailed statistical summary of the 'elements', within a user defined area of interest. The AEIP exposure information provides a summary of building and agricultural aggregated information. For more detailed building information, see NEXIS Building Exposure.

A presentation delivered at the Australia Reinsurance Pool Corporation / Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (ARPC/OECD) Terrorism Risk Insurance Conference held in Canberra from 6-7 October 2016. The presentation focusses on GA's work with the ARPC in developing a capability to estimate insured losses due to blast in Australian cities.

<p>Bushfires and Natural Hazards are features of the Australian climate and landscape. These hazards continue to pose threat and profound personal, social, economic and environmental impacts. In Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), nationally consistent and comprehensive exposure information is critical to provide situational awareness and a fundamental baseline of what may be impacted for decision makers at all levels of governance. <p>Extensive consultation with stakeholders and a review of international exposure information practices has informed the compilation of information requirements for each phase of DRR. The Natural Hazards Exposure Information Framework is a definition of the data and attributes required for all levels of DRR governance in governments, insurance sector and researchers. The report reviewed current information provision systems in Australia, identified gaps and proposed recommendations to enable the creation of more comprehensive exposure information in the future. The framework is fundamentally based on the location of features in the physical environment and their characteristics including key social and economic attributes, e.g. insurance status, buildings, infrastructure (transport, energy, communications and water), people, businesses, manufacturing industries, hazardous substances, waste management and primary industries. Importantly, the framework also addresses the ‘fit for purpose’ question by describing guidelines for data custodians to establish and maintain data provenance to enable the derivation of meaningful data reliability measures for end users. <p>The Natural Hazards Exposure Information Framework provides guidance to build and advance exposure information systems in Australia. This will enable data custodians to prioritise and invest in data, processing and delivery to improve the efficiencies of both tactical and strategic disaster management. Improved nationally consistent and comprehensive exposure information will enable users to assess risk and provide informed advice, such as cost-benefit analysis of mitigation proposals or disaster recovery arrangements. This framework will be a fundamental reference in developing similar systems internationally such as Global Exposure Database for all hazards. The framework also aids in capacity building for developing nations to improve their DRR practices.

This product is an aggregation of the Australian Exposure Information Platform (AEIP) by the Statistical Areas Level 1 (SA1), 2016 SA1 boundaries. The aggregated information is from version 6 of the Australian Exposure Information Platform. In 2002 Geoscience Australia (GA) embarked on the development of the National Exposure Information System (NEXIS) project in response to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) reform commitment on Australian’s ability to manage natural disasters and other emergencies. Public access to NEXIS has been limited to products based on Local Government Areas or ABS Statistical Areas. In 2013, the Bushfire and Natural Hazard Cooperative Research Centre, Geoscience Australia led a three year research project in collaboration with University of Melbourne and the University of Canberra, to document a comprehensive Natural Hazard Exposure Information Framework. The objective was to fully describe and categorise exposure information elements in a consistent framework to be used as a reference for developing future exposure information systems. In 2018, in partnership with the Bushfire & Natural Hazard CRC, Geoscience Australia has made available the Australian Exposure Information Platform (AEIP). The aim for AEIP was to make nationally consistent exposure information, directly accessible to key stakeholders involved in emergency management situation awareness, risk assessments, impact analysis research, and disaster management. The Platform combines the extensive work from NEXIS and the comprehensive ‘Natural Hazard Exposure Information Framework’, by providing user’s direct access to national Exposure Information. It includes 'elements' on building, businesses and people; public facilities and infrastructure assets; agricultural commodities, and environmental holdings within Australia. Exposure Reports provides a detailed statistical summary of the 'elements', within a user defined area of interest. The AEIP exposure information provides a summary of building and agricultural aggregated information. For more detailed building information, see NEXIS Building Exposure linked records.

A publicly available AGOL Dashboard that periodically updates to show the status of requests made to the Australian Exposure Information Platform (AEIP), categorised as Running, Queued and Completed (www.aeip.ga.gov.au)

In August 2002 the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) reviewed natural disaster relief and mitigation arrangements for Australia (COAG, 2003). In response to the recommendation to “develop and implement a five-year national program of systematic and rigorous disaster risk assessments”, Geoscience Australia (GA) is undertaking a series of national risk assessments for a range of natural hazards. Fundamental to any risk assessment is an understanding of the exposure including the number and type of buildings, businesses, infrastructure and people exposed to the hazard of interest. Presently there is no nationally consistent exposure database in existence for risk assessment purposes. It is important to emphasise that understanding the risks associated with various hazards requires more detailed information than the population and number of structures at a census district level. The understanding of building type, construction (roof and wall) type, building age, number of storeys, business type and replacement value is critical to understanding the potential impact on Australian communities from various hazards. The National Exposure Information System (NEXIS) is aimed at providing nationally consistent and best available exposure information at the building level. It requires detailed spatial analysis and integration of available demographic, structural and statistical data. Fundamentally, this system is developed from several national spatial datasets as a generic approach with several assumptions made to derive meaningful information. NEXIS underpins scenarios and risk assessments for various hazards. Included are earthquakes, cyclones, severe synoptic wind, tsunami, flood and technogenic critical infrastructure failure. It will be integrated with early warning and alert systems to provide real time assessment of damage or forecast the impact for any plausible hazards. This system is intended to provide a relative assessment of exposure from multiple hazards and provide the geographic distribution of exposure for regional planning. This will be at an aggregated census district level now and at a mesh block level in the future. The system is scoped to capture the residential, business (commercial and industrial), and ancillary (educational, government, community, religious, etc.) infrastructure. Currently the NEXIS architecture is finalised and the system provides residential exposure information. The prototype for business exposure is in progress. The system aims to capture ancillary buildings, infrastructure and various critical infrastructure sector exposures in future. More specific building and socio-economic information will be incorporated as new datasets or sources of information become available. The NEXIS will be able to provide the exposure information for the impact analysis for a region. This database will not support a site specific assessment involving one or two buildings and need more specific information about the particular exposure to estimate the risk at micro level. More detailed information suitable for such analysis will be maintained in reference databases.

This product is an aggregation of the Australian Exposure Information Platform (AEIP) by the Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2), 2016 SA2 boundaries. The aggregated information is from version 5 of the Australian Exposure Information Platform. In 2002 Geoscience Australia (GA) embarked on the development of the National Exposure Information System (NEXIS) project in response to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) reform commitment on Australian’s ability to manage natural disasters and other emergencies. Public access to NEXIS has been limited to products based on Local Government Areas or ABS Statistical Areas. In 2013, the Bushfire and Natural Hazard Cooperative Research Centre, Geoscience Australia led a three year research project in collaboration with University of Melbourne and the University of Canberra, to document a comprehensive Natural Hazard Exposure Information Framework. The objective was to fully describe and categorise exposure information elements in a consistent framework to be used as a reference for developing future exposure information systems. In 2018, in partnership with the Bushfire & Natural Hazard CRC, Geoscience Australia has made available the Australian Exposure Information Platform (AEIP). The aim for AEIP was to make nationally consistent exposure information, directly accessible to key stakeholders involved in emergency management situation awareness, risk assessments, impact analysis research, and disaster management. The Platform combines the extensive work from NEXIS and the comprehensive ‘Natural Hazard Exposure Information Framework’, by providing user’s direct access to national Exposure Information. It includes 'elements' on building, businesses and people; public facilities and infrastructure assets; agricultural commodities, and environmental holdings within Australia. Exposure Reports provides a detailed statistical summary of the 'elements', within a user defined area of interest. The AEIP exposure information provides a summary of building and agricultural aggregated information. For more detailed building and/or agricultural exposure information, see NEXIS Building Exposure and NEXIS Agricultural Exposure linked records.

<div>Intertidal environments contain many important ecological habitats such as sandy beaches, tidal flats, rocky shores, and reefs. These environments also provide many valuable benefits such as storm surge protection, carbon storage, and natural resources.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Intertidal zones are being increasingly faced with threats including coastal erosion, land reclamation (e.g. port construction), and sea level rise. These regions are often highly dynamic, and accurate, up-to-date elevation data describing the changing topography and extent of these environments is needed. However, this data is expensive and challenging to map across the entire intertidal zone of a continent the size of Australia. &nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The intertidal zone also forms a critical habitat and foraging ground for migratory shore birds and other species. An improved characterisation of the exposure patterns of these dynamic environments is important to support conservation efforts and to gain a better understanding of migratory species pathways. &nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>The <strong>DEA Intertidal </strong>product suite (https://knowledge.dea.ga.gov.au/data/product/dea-intertidal) provides annual continental -scale elevation and exposure products for Australia’s intertidal zone, mapped at a 10m resolution, from Digital Earth Australia’s archive of open-source Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite data. These intertidal products enable users to better monitor and understand some of the most dynamic regions of Australia’s coastlines.</div><div><br></div><div><strong>Applications</strong></div><div><br></div><div> - Integration with existing topographic and bathymetric data to seamlessly map the elevation of the coastal zone.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div> - Providing baseline elevation data for predicting the impact of coastal hazards such as storm surges, tsunami inundation, or future sea-level rise.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div> - Investigating coastal erosion and sediment transport processes.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div> - Supporting habitat mapping and modelling for coastal ecosystems extending across the terrestrial to marine boundary.&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div> - Characterisation of the spatio-temporal exposure patterns of the intertidal zone to support migratory species studies and applications.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div>