Natural Hazards Consulting focuses on the ‘sharp end’ of natural hazards warnings and response, particularly from a multi-hazard warning perspective. Natural hazards are all predictable to a degree, and by narrowing the gap between what experts know and what the community understands, we can save lives and reduce the impacts of the hazards. We have to keep striving to empower local decision-making as part of our efforts to build seamless multi-hazard warning systems.
Successful disaster mitigation involves great science, committed and competent operational teams, well drilled emergency management professionals, trusted and robust media relationships, and strong community engagement. Our vocation is to help bring good science into the service of the people to help save lives and preserve property.
We offer:
- Reviews of warning systems, procedures and operations. This includes how well an organisation is tuned in to the potential natural hazards that might affect operations, and how well the available information and warning about those hazards are used in planning and crisis response.
- Recommendations and training around communications strategies, including media strategies.
- Risk evaluations, particularly around ‘black swan’ events that are outside the direct experience of most people in operations.
- Studies to assist in planning, for example in relation to the Australia / New Zealand structural design standard AS/NZS 1170.0:2002, which requires that special studies should be carried out in relation to actions not explicitly covered in the Standard.
- Post-event investigations, such as to support ‘lessons learned’ discussions or insurance claims.
- Briefings, including pre-season briefings for critical hazards.
- Public education, including school and community talks.
Who we are
Principal – Dr Andrew Tupper
Andrew comes from a leadership background in operational meteorology, with a track record in services, in connecting science and community, and critical event management.
Andrew’s early career was as a tropical meteorologist in the Australian Bureau of Meteorology in a range of areas, along with some ‘out of the box’ experiences such as being a specialist sailing forecaster at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He then made a cross-disciplinary connection into the world of volcanic eruptions, completing a PhD largely in the shadow of Japan’s Mount Sakuarajima, focusing on improving the science and management of volcanic clouds within the context of the global aviation warning system for these clouds, the International Airways Volcano Watch. Andrew also collaborated with others in studying fire-initiated thunderstorms (pyro-cumulonimbus, or cumulonimbus flammagenitus), an emerging hazard in countries subject to bushfires such as Australia and the USA.
Andrew’s later roles include being the manager of the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, the Bureau’s Northern Territory Manager, and the head of the National Operations Centre in Melbourne, where he was also the co-director of Australia’s Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre. Before starting Natural Hazards Consulting, Andrew also spent several years as the Victorian State Manager for the Bureau. Along the way, Andrew has managed many tropical cyclone, flood, severe thunderstorm, volcanic eruption, tsunami, and bushfire events, as well as representing Australia in international roles.
Since starting Natural Hazards Consulting in 2020, Andrew has focused on improving multi-hazard early warning systems, at the international, regional, national and local levels. He is particularly interested in bridging operational gaps between disciplines, and doing so on a sustainable, long-term basis.
Our logo
Our logo, designed by Bristy Sinha, reflects the interactions of natural hazards between each other with human existence. The ripples suggest tsunami, flood, or ocean waves, the flames could reflect a bushfire or volcanic eruption, and the winds suggest a tornado or cyclone. Natural hazards have historically been studied separately, but in reality tend to interact and create multiple impacts – a volcanic eruption, for example, can generate lightning, mud rain, ashfall and rockfall, tsunami, and more. A bushfire can create tornadic vortices and loft fire ash to the stratosphere.
Despite these perils, life, represented by the tree, can thrive. With our ability to understand, observe and in most cases predict hazards, we can plan for, forecast, and survive these events. Working together, we can help avoid natural hazards creating natural disasters.