In recent months, Australian communities have been hit from all sides. On the New South Wales Central Coast, fast moving bushfires have destroyed homes and triggered natural disaster declarations, with more properties lost in other regional parts of the state. In Tasmania, townships around Dolphin Sands and Glenlusk have faced emergency bushfire warnings and significant property damage. Further north, severe storms and large hail, including the Christmas storms that struck the Gold Coast hinterland and parts of New South Wales and Victoria, have torn roofs from houses, smashed vehicles and generated hundreds of millions of dollars in claims.
The Insurance Council of Australia’s latest Catastrophe Resilience Report confirms the trend: almost 157,000 catastrophe claims and about 2.2 billion dollars in insured losses from four major events in the 2023 to 2024 season, and the 2022 east coast floods still standing as the most expensive insured event on record.
Complaints data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) tells the other half of the story. Thousands of complaints have been lodged about flood and storm claims, with delays and poor communication dominating the issues list. When early disaster assessment is weak, the pain shows up later as delay, dispute and remediation programs.
Against that backdrop, disaster assessment is not admin. It is core risk work.
Morse Building Consultancy’s licensed building consultants and registered engineers have been engaged on cyclones, floods, bushfires and storm events around Australia, including Black Summer and subsequent seasons, providing independent building consultant disaster response, damage reporting and structural advice for insurers, brokers and governments. Four practical lessons stand out.
Lesson 1: Start with safety and triage, not quotes
In the first days after a cyclone, flood, hailstorm or bushfire, pressure to start writing scopes is intense. The better outcome usually begins one step earlier.
A sound disaster assessment starts with life safety and habitability. That means checking for partial collapse, unstable slopes, live electrical services, asbestos and contamination, then deciding whether a property is safe to enter, safe with controls or not safe at all.
Insurers that treat this as a specialist task, rather than a quick look by whichever contractor is available, typically use independent disaster assessment services for cyclone and flood claims and fire events, with clear triage criteria agreed before the season starts.
Lesson 2: Draw a firm line between event damage and old problems
Every major event exposes long term issues. On the Central Coast, some properties now showing fire damage were already struggling with vegetation encroachment and older construction that did not reflect current bushfire standards, something NSW Rural Fire Service planning guidance has been warning about for years.
The technical task for assessors is to separate what the event caused from what was already present. Independent assessors do that by:
- Linking each item of damage back to a clear mechanism from the event
- Using photos, moisture readings and structural assessment notes to show timing
- Being explicit about maintenance and pre-existing defects
For landslip and ground movement after heavy rain, site investigation services for landslip and flood often need geotechnical input and careful mapping of water flow, scarps and soil conditions before anyone can say whether the event triggered the movement or simply revealed pre-existing instability.
Lesson 3: Use independent experts to reduce variability
AFCA and parliamentary work on the 2022 floods flagged inconsistent assessments and communication as core drivers of consumer frustration. In practical terms, that often looked like two neighbours with similar houses and similar damage receiving very different treatment.
Relying heavily on local repairers without a strong independent overlay can amplify that variability. Builders are essential to recovery, but they are not neutral.
Independent building and structural consultants and registered professional engineers bring a consistent methodology across portfolios. Morse Building Consultancy, a corporate founding member of the Association of Insurance Building and Engineering Consultants (AiBEC), focus on causation, compliance and evidence, and document scopes in language that can stand up to internal review, reinsurers and, if needed, a tribunal.
Lesson 4: Document like someone will read it in three years
ASIC’s review of claims handling after recent floods highlighted weaknesses in documentation and communication across multiple insurers. When a claim turns into a slow burn dispute, everyone reaches for the original disaster assessment.
From both an insurer and owner perspective, a defensible disaster assessment report should contain:
- A concise description of the event and its impact on the site
- A clear causation narrative, including what is not related to the event
- A structural and services overview, with immediate safety concerns flagged
- An itemised scope of make safe works and permanent repairs, with rationale
- Photographs and plans that let a reviewer understand the property without visiting
If any of that is missing, the likelihood of revisits, re-explanations and complaints climbs quickly.
Where this leaves insurers and property owners
For insurers and claims managers, the priority is to have an agreed disaster assessment playbook before the next fire warning, cyclone track or hail band appears on the map. That means lining up independent building consultant disaster response teams, clarifying when to escalate to registered engineers, and insisting on report templates that make reasoning and scope transparent.
For property owners and body corporates, the most practical step is to control what you can. Keep maintenance records and pre-event photos. After an event, take your own photos where it is safe, and ask for a copy of any independent report so you understand how decisions have been reached.
Extreme weather and bushfire conditions are not easing. New data from the Insurance Council of Australia shows that insured losses from floods, bushfires and storms this year alone have already run into the billions, with more volatile seasons expected. Getting disaster assessment right is one of the few levers available to make that reality fairer and more manageable for both insurers and the communities they serve.