The missing links in community warning systems: findings from two Victorian community warning system projects

This paper confirms the identification of principles that have been developed by Handmer (2001) to determine the effectiveness of community warning systems and suggests that there are also processes which link these principles defining the relationship that the principles have to each other. The research and explanations of community warning systems to date has been extremely limited with a focus on warning technology solutions and descriptions of warning system operations. Effective warning systems have been defined as ‘total‘ or integrated systems but the linkages that connect and define the relationship between the warning system elements have not been clearly identified or analysed. Two recent Victorian projects that have involved the development and implementation of community warning systems have also provided research opportunities to explore these ‘missing links’. These links are supporting the value of a bottom-up approach to community warning system development involving community engagement and are reinforcing the place of both theoretical principles and process in community warning system development.