Natural Hazards Research Australia, Media Release, 2 December 2025
Organisations with emergency management responsibilities must be capable of preparing and managing severe to catastrophic disasters.
Practice Note 3: Capability maturity: assessments and targets for severe to catastrophic disasters presents a capability assessment tool that organisations can use to assess their capability maturity to adequately prepare for and manage severe to catastrophic disasters.
The development of the tool was informed by the outcomes of the Catastrophic and cascading events: planning and capability project and supports the intended outcomes of the Australian Disaster Preparedness Framework.
This project, facilitator’s guide and tool align with recommendations of recent inquiries and reviews including the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements and the Independent Review of Commonwealth Disaster Funding. The tool has already been used to define capability targets for the New South Wales emergency management sector in partnership with New South Wales Reconstruction Authority.
