Official early warning systems are supported by global monitoring systems, standards for a range of warning related activities and alerts, agreements and partnerships. The available technology for monitoring, analysis and communication would have been all but unimaginable a decade or so ago.  In Australia, much effort has been devoted to national uniform standards and message protocols.

However, it seems that warnings are still often characterised by failure – although what constitutes failure is contested. Centralised systems can struggle with extremes, frequent events, and local priorities – this is hardly surprising as it is challenging for globally standardised systems to account for local needs. Another vulnerability of many warning systems is their many points of potential failure. These issues were well illustrated during the recent floods at the Australian town of Lismore. 

One approach to both the different priorities and to the vulnerabilities of many official systems, is to consider complementing the centralised approach with local or community warning systems. The presentation looks at a variety of warning systems to illustrate the issues, including some of the unresolved problems of individual protective action.