DISASTER MANAGEMENT AS CONTINGENT META-POLICY ANALYSIS - WATER-RESOURCE PLANNING

Australia, an island continent the size of the U.S., often experiences floods, cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, and man-made disasters. As a federal system of government, there are many instances of institution al conflict involving water resource-related crisis management situati ons. This paper outlines a contingency-based policy making schema whic h seeks to define, and solve heuristically, various forms of conflict usually involving all three spheres of government (federal, state, and local). The contingency model is uniquely applied to the context of d isaster management and so allows ''meta-policy'' strategies to be deve loped by governmental decision makers. In addition, the design of poss ible disaster management ''expert systems''is only now being recognize d in Australia but constitutes an emerging element of global policy ad vice and planning capabilities.