ABC Emergency

ABC Emergency brings warnings and coverage of emergencies to one place. It helps you find information during, before and after times of crisis and disaster, wherever you are in Australia.

We aim to tell you what the emergency is, where it's located, what essential information is available to us that will help you make decisions and where you can find more information.

It's handy for travellers, especially if you're unfamiliar with how to find warning information.

How to use ABC Emergency

Check ABC Emergency each day, starting each morning to see any potential dangerous conditions for the day ahead.

You should already have a survival plan — if you don't, use our checklists and planning guides. Act on these plans when advised or as conditions become dangerous. Leaving late is very dangerous.

Regularly visit the ABC Emergency website and its accounts on Facebook and Twitter, listen to ABC Local Radio and official agencies so you can stay updated with the latest warnings. Always monitor a few trusted sources.

During fast-moving emergencies, agencies often can't issue warnings and therefore we might not know what's happening. Once you're safe, let us know what's happening so we can tell others.

After the emergency, we will detail essential information to help you and your community recover and clean-up. Let us know if there's useful information we should include.

About the warnings and alerts published on ABC Emergency

There are three main types of alerts you may see published on this website.

Advice Watch or Watch and Act Warning

Explanations about what the warnings mean are included on each state warnings page.

Carefully read and act on the advice contained in warnings, but also use your local knowledge and common sense. Stay in touch with family and friends, regularly let them know where you are.

The warnings we publish are issued by emergency agencies or the Bureau of Meteorology and supplied via RipeIntel.

During fast-moving events it can be hard for agencies to issue regular warnings, therefore the ABC may not be able to deliver accurate information during these times.

About the ABC's emergency coverage

The ABC works with emergency agencies to deliver warnings, alerts, information and news about disasters and emergencies on TV, Radio, online and on mobile.

ABC Emergency helps you identify what's happening and how to get more information using coverage guides, disaster checklists, critical information and maps.

Our ABC Local stations nationwide strive to deliver timely, accurate and relevant information to affected communities via social media and radio, including rolling radio coverage of major events.

ABC News delivers news reports, live blogs and reporters at the scene to give you the full story about what's happening and the impact.

ABC News 24 may also draw your attention to warnings via a ticker at the base of the screen and coverage on-air.

The ABC has formal agreements and partnerships with the Bureau of Meteorology and some state emergency agencies to be a reliable source of information during times of crisis.

Frequently asked questions If there's sport on the radio, will you still broadcast warnings?

Yes. ABC Local will broadcast warnings on the radio, social media and online as soon as possible after we're told of a threat being posed to a community.

You should monitor ABC Emergency, official agency websites, social media as well ABC Local Radio to stay updated.

When does ABC Local broadcast warnings?

We'll let you know about fire bans, weather warnings and other possible events each morning across Local Radio and social media. You should also visit ABC Emergency to see the latest.

Then during the day when emergencies reach a serious level, we will let you know about official warnings as soon as we can and on a regular basis.

We recommend monitoring several official sources such as emergency agency websites and social media as well as ABC Local websites, social media, radio and ABC Emergency.

What happens after an emergency or disaster? How do I find information?

The ABC will continue to provide you with information after an emergency event to help you and your community recover.

On ABC Emergency we will provide information to help you such as hotlines, recovery websites and also stories giving you tips on cleaning up.

ABC Local Radio may also feature information to help you after an emergency and keep you informed with developments as part of its regular programming.