Media Release
December 12 2006
When it rains, it pours
An
important new reference book and DVD on
the history of floods in South Australia has benefited from the
contribution of students at the University of South Australia.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Floods in South Australia 1836-2005, launched today by Greg Hunt, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, is the most comprehensive single collection of data available on floods and rainfall in Australia.
It contains information relating to more than 3000 floods which can be searched by, for example, location, date or impact on life and property, thanks to custom software created by students from UniSA’s School of Computer and Information Science (CIS).
In addition, promotion of the book and DVD has taken cues from the work of students in UniSA’s School of Marketing, and its design and layout was devised by UniSA design graduate Pontip Sunthavong.
Industry Alliance Program Manager in UniSA’s Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment, Allan Baird, says Floods in South Australia is an excellent example of UniSA’s real world approach to working with industry and government.
“We’re delighted the Bureau of Meteorology approached UniSA to help with the production of this document,” Baird says. “We were able to provide knowledge and skills worth tens of thousands of dollars and, at the same time, precious real world experience for our students.”
Baird says the enormous amount of information collected in preparing Floods in South Australia needed to be managed to make it easy to search and use. Four students from UniSA’s Master of Information Technology program created a flexible database which allows the user to search for information in a number of ways.
“And Dr Herve Remaud’s undergraduate and postgraduate marketing students delivered important advice on the book’s recommended retail price, the target market and the size of the first print run,” Baird says.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Mac Benoy says the book and DVD will enable planners, engineers, hydrologists, business proprietors, farmers and householders to avoid or better prepare for flood events.
“They will also be useful tools for historians, educators,
journalists or anybody with an interest in the impacts of extreme
weather on South Australia,” he says.
Floods in South Australia 1836-2005 (RRP $79.95) is available
from the Bureau of Meteorology.
Media contact
- Vincent Ciccarello office (08) 8302 0578 mobile 0434 603 457 email vincent.ciccarello@unisa.edu.au