In their Time of Need : Australia's Overseas Emergency Relief Operations 1918–2006

This volume of The Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations recounts the activities of Australia's military forces in response to overseas natural disasters. The military's involvement in overseas emergency management is focused primarily on the period immediately after disaster strikes: transporting relief supplies, providing medical assistance, restoring basic services and communications and other logistical support. Beginning with the 1917–18 influenza epidemic that ravaged the Pacific and culminating with the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, this book covers Australia's response to some of the most catastrophic natural events of the twentieth century. In their Time of Need is richly detailed, as Steven Bullard weaves together official government records and archival images with the personal narratives and photographs of those who served. This volume is an authoritative and compelling history of Australia's efforts to help their neighbours.