Greater preparation is required to combat Sydney’s future heatwaves, according to Sydney’s Chief Resilience Officer Beck Dawson.

Ms Dawson warned that heatwaves will pose a deadlier threat to the Sydney metropolitan area with increased frequency and intensity over the coming decades. 

“Our risk assessment for Sydney ranked extreme weather as the biggest potential shock, ahead of financial institution failure, infrastructure failure, disease pandemic, water crisis, digital network failure, cyber-attacks and terrorist attacks,” Ms Dawson said.

“Within the extreme weather category, heat impacts contribute to more deaths than bushfires, floods and storms combined. We classify heat as Sydney’s silent killer. It sends more people to hospital than any other risk Sydney is threatened with yet doesn’t seem to command the level of public concern that is should.”

To address the matter, the City of Sydney is hosting the Resilient Sydney team at Town Hall House.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said that “as our City gets bigger and becomes more efficient, it also becomes more vulnerable. There has never been a greater need for Sydney’s many decision-makers to work collaboratively than now”.

“Our ability to bounce back from disaster will come to define us and the only way we’ll recover quickly is by having a clear plan. The resilience strategy being prepared by Beck Dawson will become an incredibly important document, and I look forward to working with my colleagues across Sydney to make it happen.”

According to Ms Dawson, the Resilient Sydney team will be visiting various business groups, community groups, councils, and government agencies for the development of heatwave solutions.