Boots on the ground sooner and better equipped: Disaster Management Centre puts Suncorp on the front foot with severe weather response

On Halloween 2020, the community of Springfield, southwest of Brisbane, was hit by a devasting hailstorm. Cricket ball-sized hail ripped through roofs and cars, forcing entire streets to evacuate and leaving thousands of homes without power, including many Suncorp customers. 

“Whilst Suncorp had excellent people on the ground, we knew we could do better by equipping them with better information, better insights into what had occurred and how we can get customers back home faster,” said Suncorp Executive General Manager for Home Claims Alli Smith.  

Just over four years since that October hail event in Springfield, the information and insights are not just better, they’re world leading. And, in a first for the Australian insurance industry, the capabilities, data and cutting-edge technology are housed under one roof — Suncorp's Disaster Management Centre.  

A nine-metre-wide LED screen runs the length of a wall Inside the DMC, in Suncorp’s Brisbane headquarters. A combination of geospatial mapping, satellite imagery, aperture radar, drone imagery and a wealth of customer and weather data feeds into the screen, delivering the information Suncorp’s people need, literally to their fingertips. 

Customer data and the application of machine learning will allow Suncorp to accurately visualise the impacts to customers before, during and after weather events. 

Mr Johnston said the data and insights generated through the DMC are also shared with key partners, as part of Suncorp’s commitment to building resilient communities. 

“We want to share as much as we can with either the Bureau of Meteorology or the SES (State Emergency Service) to make sure we're working together and we're coordinating our response as best we can," he said. 

In addition to assisting recovery, Mr Johnston said the DMC, which is part of Suncorp’s $25 million Queensland job and investment package, was designed to help build community preparedness for extreme weather.  

“Everything you see in the Disaster Management Centre supports our desire to get our customers back into their home quicker, give them peace of mind and help Australia protect itself against the frequency and severity of weather.”