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I am currently involved in writing a couple of books.  One of these is called ‘Sam the Rat and other Stories from the Field’.  It consists of a dozen chapters each describing events from my career as a global humanitarian and development practitioner.  Enclosed is a link to one of the chapters (Sam the Rat).  Enjoy it!

The twelve chapters are currently planned out as follows:

• First Steps (Bangladesh)
• Shock Value (Somalia)
• Sam the Rat (Cambodia/Kampuchea)
• Zenica Farewell (Bosnia)
• Khyber Pass (Afghanistan)
• It’s Christmas Time (Ethiopia)
• Feeding the Masses (Mozambique)
• The Natural (Aceh)
• Big Bang (Tonga)
• The Chicken Run (Egypt/Sudan)
• Out of Sight, Out of Mind (Australian bushfires)
• Mission Impossible? (the Rohingya in Bangladesh)

The link below includes details of the 2026 assessment tasks for the online Semester 2 Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program running from the 27th July through to the 13th November 2026.  The assessment details also include (at the bottom of the first page) the contact details at Murdoch University regarding Advanced Standing issues.  The PDRM covers ten topics, and the student/participant seeking Advanced Standing has to successfully complete three assignment tasks.

The link to the 2026 TorqAid online accredited PDRM program outlined above is given below:

The link to the 2026 online accredited PDRM Registration Form is also included here:

It appears increasingly likely that an el Nino-related weather system is developing over the southern Pacific Ocean during the latter half of 2023.  This is likely to bring drier that normal conditions for the Southwest Pacific islands, with increasing likelihood of drought and bushfires along the eastern seaboard of Australia.  The period July-October 2023 is therefore an ideal time for involved stakeholders, whether these be emergency services; government departments at all levels of governance; NGOs; and community groups, to develop appropriate risk reduction initiatives, particularly mitigation and preparation. In a number of cases this may require customised training for involved staff and volunteers.

TorqAid has a rich history and experience of both PDRM field work and training throughout both the Southwest Pacific and Australia.  It stands ready to provided needed targetted training for stakeholders should this be requested.  Enclosed is a short paper outlining TorqAid’s PDRM field experience and training in the above mentioned geographical regions, as well as options of training which can be offered.

From the 24 July through to the end of November 2023 an online, accredited PDRM program is being facilitated by TorqAid.  A number of the topics covered are particularly relevent to this el Nino-related situation, these including Topics 1 & 4 (Key DRM Diagrams, Issues and Case Studies), Topics 5 & 6 (Risk Management), and Topic 10 (Climate Change).  Follow the link below for this online PDRM program.

Reverting back to risk reduction initiatives (particularly mitogation and preparation), the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) diagram in the enclosed article ‘A DRM Diagrammatic Framework’, gives some useful guidance on this.

Finally, feel free to contact me on pipercm@iprimus.com.au if you’d like a jpeg copy of the map illustrating the Southeasterly Trade Winds and the ‘Ring of Fire’ in the Southwest Pacific.

Greta Thunberg has created a brilliant new publication called ‘The Climate Book’ – see www.theclimatebook.org.  This is a comprehensive document, covering over 400 pages.  It is divided into five Parts, with a total of 100 short articles written by global experts in their various fields.  Each Part has an introduction by Ms Thunberg.

• Part 1:  How Climate Works
• Part 2:  How Our Planet is Changing
• Part 3:  How It Affects Us
• Part 4:  What We’ve Done About It
• Part 5:  What We Must Do Now

The Climate Book is a wonderful resource for humanitarian/development practitioners, tertiary/secondary students, and others involved or interested in Climate Change.

The Climate/Warming Stripes included in both The Climate Book and this TorqAid post were developed by Professor Ed Hawkins and his team at the University of Reading, UK – see  https://www.reading.ac.uk/planet/climate-resources/climate-stripes

The Climate Book is now a key resource used in Topic 05 (Climate Change) of our 2023 Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program – see www.torqaid.com/2023-pdrm-training

This short blog focuses in on Australian bushfires and floods.  Whilst the majority of examples relate to bushfires, the principles behind them apply equally to floods (as well as to other Australian hazards such as tropical cyclones and drought). This blog is written by Chris Piper, an Australian-based Global Humanitarian Practitioner (GHP) and Teacher/Trainer/Facilitator.  From 2010-2022 he was a lecturer on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Emergency Management program, and in the 1990’s was involved in the review of the Municipal Emergency Management Plans (MEMPs) in two local coastal council areas south of Geelong. With regards Australian bushfires and floods he has been involved in coordinating church-led volunteer recovery responses to the 2009 Victorian bushfires and 2011 floods, as well as acting as Bushfire Recovery Adviser (BRA) to the Baptist Union of Victoria (BRA) following the 2019/2020 bushfires. He also teaches on different aspects of bushfire recovery work on the TorqAid Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program.

The Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Diagrammatic Framework is a very useful approach to better understanding disasters, particularly as they pass through their Normal/Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Emergency Response & Recovery Stages.  See the enclosed article here.

The Australian 2019/2020 bushfire season was unprecedented in its intensity and geographical spread. Following the fires, Chris worked from March-May as BRA for the BUV, this involving him visiting and supporting affected communities in the east of Victoria. The following two links highlight some aspects of his visits to the field.

BUV Video on Corryong, 5-6^th March 2020

https://www.buv.com.au/news/corryong-and-surrounds-from-bushfires-to-covid-19

BUV Video on Gippsland, 11-12^th March 2020

https://www.buv.com.au/news/an-update-on-our-response-to-the-bushfires

In January 2020 Chris prepared an article on the bushfires for the March 2020 edition of the Geography Teachers Association of Victoria’s (GTAV) quarterly ‘Interaction’ magazine.  This includes some suggested Classroom Activities for Secondary level students.  This gives a good overview of the Emergency Response Stage of the bushfires; some comments on the recovery challenges throughout 2020, this complicated by COVID-19; and some thoughts on future Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) initiatives, these including some related to climate change.

Based on his BRA work, Chris prepared an article in mid 2020 on training for bushfire-related field staff and volunteers, these people involved in recovery work within a COVID-19 context.

Following the earlier 2009 bushfires in Victoria, Chris coordinated some church-based community recovery work on a number of weekends during 2009-2011.  He produced a Project Design Document (PDD) relating to this, and interested folk can contact on chris@torqaid.com to request a copy of this.

Following this 2009-2011 work, Chris prepared a short article on the management of volunteers in such post-bushfire and flood situations.

Aspects of bushfires is covered in Topics TC02 of the aforementioned PDRM program. The link below relates to the accredited online 2025 PDRM program running from the beginning of March through to mid-June.