Hornsby’s new ‘Disaster Dashboard’ will alert residents to fire, floods and other emergencies
Hornsby Shire Council is trialling a new online portal to help residents stay safe and receive live updates about any threat to the community – from local COVID-19 outbreaks, to violent storms, to bush fires, to power outages.
Council’s online ‘Disaster Dashboard’ combines real-time information all in one place from a range of emergency services including:
- NSW Rural Fire Service
- The Bureau of Meteorology
- Transport for NSW
- NSW State Emergency Service, and
- The NSW Ministry of Health.
“Council’s new ’Disaster Dashboard’ makes it easier than ever for residents to prepare for – and respond to – emergencies,” said Hornsby Shire Council General Manager, Steven Head.
“A string of recent events – from severe bush fires and heavy flooding, all followed by the COVID pandemic – has put many communities across Australia, including Hornsby Shire, on high alert.
“It all underpins the need for quick and reliable information.
“Whatever is going on, we want our residents to hear about it fast – and make sure they know what to do to ensure their family’s safety,” said Mr Head.
“With the Disaster Dashboard we can now achieve this. It’s Hornsby Shire’s new one-stop-site for the most accurate, most up-to-date information about every possible hazard in our area.”
Using the new dashboard, residents can track data on:
- Fires and floods
- Storms and weather warnings
- Road and bridge conditions (under state agency control)
- Water, power, gas and mobile network outages
- Air and water quality
- COVID-19 cases, local restrictions and vaccination clinics
The dashboard provides short and sharp guidance on how to prepare for emergencies and where to find support after disaster has struck.
“Hornsby Shire will trial our ‘Disaster Dashboard’ for 12 months, to be reviewed in 2022,” said Mr Head.
“So, we are urging our community to put the ‘Disaster Dashboard’ to good use, checking in on it regularly – both to keep themselves and their families safe.
“If Council can see clear evidence the service is being used, we will ensure the service continues.”
The ‘Disaster Dashboard‘ has been made available through the Regional Disaster Preparedness Pilot project, undertaken by Resilience NSW, to ensure local communities are better equipped to manage critical incidents.
Residents can visit Hornsby Shire’s ‘Disaster Dashboard’ and bookmark the page at https://hornsby.disasterdashboards.com/
