Emergencies - how to prepare, respond and recover
Who to call in an emergency?
Emergency Services
For life threatening situations call 000 (fire, ambulance, police)
- If you are hearing or speech impaired, call 106
- For Police assistance, call 131 444
- For State Emergency Services (SES) assistance, call 132 500
For advice on how to make an emergency call visit the ACMA Website.
What can you do to prepare for an emergency?
Emergencies can strike at anytime, anywhere and without warning. The good news is, it's easy to protect yourself, the people you love, your pets, and the things you value most. The DFES Prepare, RSPCA Knowledge Base, and Australian Red Cross Get Prepared websites have all the information you need to prepare for an emergency one step at a time.
The Red Cross website also has Guides and Resources to help anyone prepare for an emergency. You can download the “Get Prepared “app from their site.
Install the Emergency+ app on your mobile phone. If you require help for yourself or another person in an emergency, knowing who to call and providing details of your location is important to save time and receive help quickly.
For Residents and Visitors
Emergencies can happen anytime, anywhere. Have you thought about how you may be affected or what you need to do in an emergency when you live or stay in the city? Be prepared and learn more at Emergency Management Brochure – Residents.
If you are from out of town or overseas or even visiting the city for the day, learn more about emergencies in the city at Emergency Management Brochure – Visitors.
For Businesses
How well your business recovers from an emergency starts long before an event occurs. Like all business success stories, business continuity begins with assessing risks and planning to minimise the impact they may have on your future business. Learn about preparation and response to an emergency here: Emergency Management Brochure – Business.
For support in preparing for an emergency check out the video below.
For Pets and Animals
An emergency may occur at any time and be a distressing time for both an animal owner and their pets. Emergency animal preplanning is essential to alleviate some of these stresses.
When preparing a good emergency animal plan, you will need to consider the following:
- Pet owners are responsible for the welfare of their pet in an emergency. Emergency Services or the Local Government may not be able to assist.
- SafeCity Rangers do not carry pet, welfare, hygiene, medical, containment or food supplies.
- Only registered assistance animals are permitted in an Evacuation Centre.
To help minimise the worry, animal owners are encouraged to prepare an Emergency Animal Plan. This may include.
- Decisions on whether you are evacuating with or without your animal.
- Numbers for local vets, pet taxis, pounds, catteries, kennels, pet suppliers.
- Hygiene, medical, food, transport and boarding needs.
- Carrying a photo, registration, vaccination and microchip details and keep these up to date.
- Short-, medium- and long-term animal welfare needs.
- Managing your pet if you have to evacuate without your vehicle.
For further information on managing your pets in an emergency see:
Department of Fire and Emergency Services
RSPCA Knowledgebase
Department Agriculture and Food
State Support Plan - Animal Welfare in Emergencies (www.wa.gov.au)
Emergency grab bags and plans
During an emergency is not the best time to try and get things together. In your preparations, think about the sorts of emergencies you, your family, your pets, or your business might face. Start creating an Emergency Plan as well as an Emergency Grab Bag for you, your family and even your business.
How to Stay Connected
In an emergency event, telecommunication services may be limited or go down altogether. Should this happen, It is vital you are prepared.
On the Communicating in Emergencies and Natural Disasters page you will find suggestions on how to stay connected – before, during and after an event.
If you are part of community group or network, check out the Community Stakeholder Kit available to inform your group.
Flood Aware Be Prepared
As our city sits on the banks of the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River), although rare, some areas are vulnerable to flooding. If you live along the banks of the river or would like to learn more about how to be flood aware and prepared visit the Flood Aware Be Prepared site. (Courtesy of the East Metropolitan Regional Council (EMRC)).
What to do in an emergency
Everyone
All the good work you have done to prepare for an emergency will now pay off.
- Listen to Emergency Advice. You can obtain information regarding current emergencies by:
- Visiting the Emergency WA website.
- Calling 1300 657 209 for regular emergency information updates.
- Listening to AM radio ABC 720 or 880 6PR.
- For some cases you may receive an advisory SMS from Emergency Services
- Enact your emergency Plan
- Collect your loved ones
- Grab your go bag
- Manage your animals' welfare
As a resident
During an emergency, one of the best things you can do for your safety is to keep informed about where the danger is and what action you need to take to stay safe. DFES provides a range of official information sources to help you stay up to date.
Go to the DFES Website for lifesaving advise including how to use the Emergency WA website to keep you informed.
As a business
If an emergency happens, your first priority is the safety of you and your employees. Then you can look at protecting your business and assets. There's a range of support available to help you get your business back up and running.
Find out what to do in an emergency, how to keep up-to-date, and how to get help by visiting Business.gov.au (What to do in an emergency).
For support in what to do in an emergency check out the video below.
What to do after an emergency?
Experiencing an emergency can be traumatic and exhausting; it’s normal to feel unsettled for a while. Returning to normal life may feel far off, but there are several things you can do and people you can turn to for help.
The DFES Recovery website has great advise and shortcuts to many support services and if you need advice on how to get your business back up and running, see the Guide to continuing your business page at business.gov.au
Disaster Relief
The Department of Communities manages emergency welfare services during disasters and emergencies. To learn more about help available go to the DCP website. Red Cross also has a number of resources that can help support you.
The Lord Mayor's Distress Relief Fund provides relief of personal hardship and distress arising from natural disasters occurring in Western Australia. For more information visit the Lord Mayor's Distress Relief Fund website.
The City of Perth emergency management arrangements
The threat from manmade or natural emergency events is ever present. Local Government play a supporting role to the official Hazard Management Authority (HMA) in response to any event. This is outlined in the State Governments State Hazard Plans.
The City of Perth works closely with the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC) and is a member of the District Emergency Management Committee (DEMC). Exercises are conducted to ensure the City, Government and community agencies are prepared for emergencies that may occur in the City of Perth and surrounding areas.
The City tests and plans its emergency management role in preparedness for and recovery from an emergency event, regularly reviewing its Local Emergency Management Arrangements (LEMA) and capacity. This build assurance that the City is well place to assist the HMA and the Community.
The City also manages and chairs the Local Emergency Management Committee (LEMC). The LEMC includes representatives from organisations involved in emergency management in the city. Its main functions include:
- Advising and assisting the local government to ensure the LEMA documents are established.
- Liaising with public authorities and other key organisations to develop, review and test the LEMA.
The supporting plans and arrangements demonstrate the City commitment to its community and meets its statutory responsibilities under the Emergency Management Act 2005.
More details can be found in the following Local Emergency Management Arrangements:
- Emergency Management General Plan 2024
- Local Recovery Plan 2024
- Emergency Animal Welfare Plan 2024
- Emergency Movement of People Arrangements 2024
- Temporary Memorial Plan 2024
- Local Welfare Plan 2017 (Restricted document only available to emergency organisations)
