The Australian Disaster Resilience Index (ADRI) has been significantly updated, with new findings presented at the 2025 Natural Hazards Research Forum in Adelaide.
Developed by Natural Hazards Research Australia in collaboration with the University of New England (UNE) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the revised index – labelled ADRI-2 – aims to support risk management by identifying how different communities are positioned to manage natural disasters.
ADRI-2 provided updated resilience ratings for 2,330 statistical areas across Australia. The index measured a region’s ability to withstand and recover from events like bushfires, floods, and cyclones, assessing dimensions such as adaptive and coping capacity.
Andrew Gissing, CEO of Natural Hazards Research Australia, said the new data pointed to areas of both strength and vulnerability.
Approximately 13.5 million Australians are in zones with moderate resilience, while another 6.5 million live in communities with high capacity.
At the same time, about 5.9 million residents are located in areas that could benefit from greater support and investment.
Paul Gloyne from NEMA, who oversees data and analytics, said the updated index is intended to guide decision-making at all levels of government, as well as in sectors like insurance and infrastructure planning.
“Used in parallel with natural disaster hazard risk, ADRI-2 supports a more targeted and coordinated approach to disaster risk reduction by highlighting the unique capacities and challenges faced by different communities. Its strength lies in transforming complex resilience data into accessible, evidence-based insights that can directly support policy development, funding, decisions, and on the ground planning,” he said.
The index is delivered through an interactive platform developed by UNE’s Computation Analytics Software Informatics group.
Since the original index was launched in 2020, over 320 organisations have accessed the platform, with monthly usage ranging between 500 and 1,800 unique visitors.
The update is expected to increase engagement further.
Melissa Parsons, lead academic on the project, said the revised index offers timely data for shaping disaster resilience policies.
“ADRI-2 represents an important piece of data contributing to the policy and management of disaster planning and mitigation in Australia,” she said. “By providing this updated snapshot of a community’s capacity for disaster resilience across the country, we’re equipping decision-makers with the information they need to develop targeted strategies that reflect place-based conditions.”
The ADRI-2 release follows recent findings from NASA’s GRACE satellite program, which recorded a sharp rise in the frequency and severity of global extreme weather events in 2023.
According to preliminary data, the volume of extreme weather doubled compared to the long-term average from 2003 to 2020.
While the dataset is still being analysed for long-term implications, researchers believe it reflects broader climatic shifts.
NASA researcher Dr Bailing Li noted that although causality cannot yet be confirmed, the trend is consistent with global warming indicators.
Dr Matthew Rodell, head of hydrologic sciences at NASA, added that the findings should be interpreted carefully but merit close monitoring.
Andrew Stafford, senior vice president at FM for Australia and New Zealand, said the rising climate volatility strengthens the case for insurers and businesses to prioritise risk assessments.
FM’s 2025 Resilience Index ranked Australia 87th out of global markets for climate risk exposure. A related survey conducted with The Economist Intelligence Unit found that while 70% of Australian executives had experienced business impacts from weather events, around 25% continued to treat these risks as low to medium priority.
