Public health advice for disaster management
Planning for an evacuation centre needs to address many public health concerns. These include food, water, space, sanitation and hygiene requirements to:
- maintain the health of evacuees and staff
- minimise the risk of an outbreak of a communicable disease
- maintain food safety.
Guidelines
- Queensland Evacuation Guidelines
- NSW Health—Major Evacuation Centres: Public Health Consideration
- Red Cross Australia
Food safety
Food safety principles need to be followed when preparing food for people within evacuation centres. The Food safety in emergency evacuation centres booklet has been developed to help staff.
Posters
- Hints for refrigerating food in evacuation centres
- Preparing and storing food in evacuation centres
- Stay healthy in disasters wash your hands
- Make drinking water safe
- Stay safe during clean up
- Wash hands regularly
- Don't get bitten by mosquitos
- Food safety in an emergency
- Staying safe and healthy in hot weather
- Tips for keeping food safe in extremely hot weather
Fact sheets
Fire
- Asbestos and fire damaged buildings
- Drawing from bushfire-impacted waters
- Bushfire fighting water additives and health
- Bushfires and roof-harvested water
- Bushfires—staying safe during clean up
- Bushfires—staying safe and healthy in smoky conditions
- Bushfires and swimming poolsDrawing from bushfire-impacted waters
Storms, floods and cyclones
Recovery
- Accessing medicines in a disaster
- Managing medicines in a disaster
- Storage of evacuee’s personal medicines in evacuation centres
- Dealing with mould after a storm, flood or cyclone
- Returning to a disaster-affected house or building
- Restoring flood-affected domestic swimming pools and spa pools
- Stay safe and healthy after storms, floods and cyclones
- Use of playgrounds and sporting fields during flood recovery
- Human health and animal carcass disposal
- Disease prevention - PPE disposal
Flies and mosquitoes
- Black flies—a public health risk after a flood
- Controlling mosquito breeding after floods, storms and cyclones
- Mosquito-borne diseases after a storm, flood or cyclone
Food safety
Water safety
- Ensuring safe drinking water
- Restoring rainwater tanks affected by natural disasters (including bore water-holding tanks)
Heat-related
General health and disaster management
Last updated: 18 March 2021
