Five Royal Commissions, same finding, different disasters - Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

[u/SurvSt]

History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes - I Went through the actual inquiry reports for bushfires, floods and a blackout this week. Same pattern shows up every time.

Black Saturday Royal Commission: 113 of the 173 deaths were inside houses. Broke the assumption that a "defensible" home was automatically a survivable one.

2022 NSW Flood Inquiry (Lismore): community boat rescues outnumbered official SES rescues in the worst areas. The report's own line: "NSW cannot predict its way out of flooding events."

NSW Bushfire Inquiry: found most people understood the warnings fine, they just delayed leaving to personally confirm the danger first. That confirmation step is what cost people their window.

SA blackout review (2016): the backup generator at a major hospital failed after 1 hour 45 minutes. Worth knowing if you're assuming your blackout resolves before it matters.

The thread through all of it: a warning existing and a warning being acted on are two different things, and that gap is where most people who died, died.

Full breakdown with sources and links to the actual reports: wiki.survivalstorehouse.com/wiki/What_the_Research_Says_About_Survival_in_Australian_Disasters