The Greater Melbourne Heat Alliance was founded in 2023 to bring together organisations and leaders from across the city who are working to reduce the impacts of rising temperatures, support communities to build resilience, and tackle the root causes of heat vulnerability. At the first meeting in February, the Alliance agreed to run a heatwave disaster scenario event where participants would be guided through possible future events
to understand what a heatwave disaster means for Melbourne’s diverse communities.
As we prepare for coming hot summers, it is essential that we understand the challenges to our heatwave resilience and what we can do before summer to be better prepared. As temperatures rise, residents will be exposed to shocking unprecedented heat. Yearly average heat-related deaths in Melbourne are projected
to double by 2050. By bringing together diverse participants from the health and community sectors, unions, government and professionals and industry, we revealed a more comprehensive perspective on the challenges, gaps and opportunities.
The objectives of the event were that participants would meet people outside their usual networks and make connections that would better prepare them for cooperation and communication, that we would take a deep dive into how risk and vulnerability are created, gain skills in understanding heatwave disasters, and take new ideas and skills back to their workplaces and organisations to prepare for the summer ahead.
The event was held on September 28th and was guided by Atkinson Consulting. The agenda and scenario details have been developed with feedback from a working group including Sweltering Cities, VCOSS, WAGA, DEECA and LMCF. The event couldn’t have happened without the generous support of the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation. We thank the Foundation for their ongoing support of the Greater Melbourne Heat Alliance.
Sweltering Cities coordinates the Greater Melbourne Heat Alliance and was responsible for planning and delivering this event.
You can read the event report here, or download the pdf here.
