PAPERS

Natural disasters in Australia

Sally Leivesley

Department of Social Work University of Queensland St. Lucia, Brisbane Queensland Australia

The history of natural hazards in Australia and their physical, economic and social consequences are discussed in this paper. The lack of any national programme for hazard mitigation is identified, alongside an overview of Australia as a country where major disasters are accepted as a part of everyday life.

Keywords: Australian disasters; Flood; Drought; Cyclone; Bushfire; Earthquake; History; Consequences.

INTRODUCTION

Australia is vulnerable to the impact of different natural disasters every year. This paper provides a brief history of some of the natural disaster agents, namely, flood, drought, cyclone and bush fire, that have recurring impacts on different parts of the country. Earthquakes are also included as a hazard with the potential for considerable damage to urban populations, although there have been to date few such significant events.

The overview of Australian disasters presented here has been gathered from the literature and the media. Social data on Australian disasters is rare and the media reports generally are the sole source of information on human losses. Even economic data cannot be found within the Australian disaster literature, so that insurance companies and the media remain the main sources for damage estimates. Each section below reviews the history and consequences of major natural hazards in Australia, but more comprehensive and detailed information on recurring impacts, and the losses they entail, remain desirable.

The artificial boundaries of the six states and two territories in Australia do not limit the extent of natural disaster impacts. Several states may suffer at the same time, thereby straining the capacity of the nation to recover. At present, there is no one policy for disaster mitigation geared to rationalize preventative measures by government.

Disaster assistance from the Federal Government is based on the severity of the impact.

There are two challenges for the Australian government: assessment of the national cost of the recurring natural hazard impacts; and the development, in association with the states, of a planned national programme for mitigation.

FLOODS

Douglas (1976) suggests that the “national conscious- ness” is stirred by floods which affect large communities, as is confirmed by the fact that some documentation is available on urban disasters. The history of small communities is not so well documented, but Douglas cites an example of the Gundagai flood of 1850, when 89 of the 250 townspeople perished. Shields (1976) says that the early settlers were more concerned with survival and re- establishment following floods and did not record details of the events themselves. However, “rule of thumb” measures were used in the country and flood heights of events in the late 1800’s can be found marked on the early homesteads (McVeigh, 1978).

Yeates and Douglas (1976) have constructed a table of major flooding in Australia for the years 194S1974. This shows that each year there has been a major flood in some Australian river. Douglas (1976) further suggests that there is a hierarchy of hazardous areas. The greatest hazards are found in the coastal flood plains of east coast streams, while lesser dangers face the inland rivers. However the high danger on the coast is reduced by a high investment in flood mitigation projects so in reality the inland areas may have a higher risk of flooding.

The difficulty in assessing risk areas is compounded by the lack of records in Australia. Shields (1976) claims that many river catchments have little or no flood or water resources history. Where information has been gathered it may only be known to the local authorities, but even in some well populated areas there is not a complete record of events so that there is no basis for assessing flood levels. This is even shown in media reports - for example in a country town in Queensland that is subject to floods the local paper states:

“Flood records are fairly vague and dependent upon reports from the older residents of the town and area.”

(Stanthorpe Border Post, 30th January 1976) The literature on floods in Australia suggests many different causes - weather patterns, topography and changes in topography, settlement patterns, catchment geometry, vegetation cover, soil permeability, and mod- ifications of channels by engineering activity. In Queens- land, tropical cyclones are the major cause of flooding - the centre and northern parts of the state and the Gulf of Carpentaria coastlands are at risk (Oliver, 1978). In New South Wales, flooding is the result of an interplay between tropical systems and a southern westerly circulation which creates heavy rain-producing systems (Douglas, 1976).

Disasters/ 8/ 2/ 1 984 83

84 NATURAL DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA

Topography creates different degrees of flood risk in the inland areas and the east coast of Australia. Douglas (1976) says that floods in inland areas spread along river systems away from areas of high rainfall. Every inland stream has a flood risk. Downstream floods last longer than those in coastal areas as the water does not move with the same velocity. Coastal rivers are shorter and faster-flowing than those in the west, where waters spread across the plains sometimes forty miles in width and lie as flood areas for weeks (Munro, 1974).

Changes in topography cause low level nuisance flooding especially in urban areas. Changes in the rainfall/run-off relationship create a hazard when no provision is made to increase channel capacity or hydraulic efficiencies (Douglas, 1976). When new areas are opened to development and there are changes in vegetation in the catchment areas, flooding can cause significant property damage.

In country areas farming patterns can create flood risks where timber is cut down and natural pastures are removed. As a result upper soils are depleted and silt is deposited on the lowlands or in creek beds (Mc Veigh, 1978).

Settlement patterns have also contributed to the level of flood losses. The towns and cities along the New South Wales coast are sited in vulnerable locations at the head of river reaches that are practicable for navigation. The historical circumstance that created this vulnerability was the dependence of early settlements on ships as the sole mode of large scale transport (Lewis-Hughes, 1976).

Loss of life in floods is not as serious now as in the past, due to protection from sophisticated warning systems and the emergency services. There is still a threat from flash flooding in fast-flowing streams and flooding caused by storm surges. In inland areas the slow rise of rivers gives ample time for residents to evacuate.

In rural areas the population suffers from the loss of houses and contents, local governments have to contend with damage to roads, dams and other public works, and farms lose crops, stock, fencing and machinery. Land usage is also affected when floods spread huge amounts of weeds over clean land and downgrade the quality of products with contamination from seeds and rubbish (McVeigh, 1978).

Losses to the rural sector also affect a state’s economy. In 1973, for example, only a third of the wheat harvest of Southern Queensland came in and water to the depth of three feet ruined crops of sorghum and sunflower (Courier Mail, 30th October 1972).

Another example of the rural consequences of serious flooding is the flood disaster of 1976 in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales where water levels were the highest since 1887. In Queensland losses included 250,000 sheep, 2,000 cattle, plant and machinery worth 6600,000 and fencing worth 61,000,OOO (Courier Mail, 11th April 1976).

In one stretch of 60 miles along the Condamine River there was an estimated crop loss of SlO,OOO,OOO with ten feet of water covering sorghum, maize, cotton and sunflower crops (Stanthorpe Border Post, 30th January 1976). This level of damage is not an isolated incident as there are reports of other major floods in the same area in 1977 with

an estimated 640,000,000 crop loss (Australian, 14th February 1977).

While the costs of floods are highlighted in these reports there are some benefits to primary producers, for example, in the creation of dairy and beef pastures and good forage crops following floods. However these pastures are not always of good quality and agricultural experts say that after the 1976 Queensland floods, post-flood grass in the western part of the state was too rank to be of much value to stock (Courier Mail, 11th April 1976). Rains had encouraged a strong grass which was high in fibre but low in protein content. Other benefits from flooding include the deposit of alluvium (silt). Munro (1974) says that in the western plains rich cropland would not exist without alluvium which in some areas is deposited to a depth of two hundred feet. It benefits the Channel Country in Western Queensland as graziers can remove cattle before floods and return them when the grass has recovered.

Another benefit to farmers is that subsequent crops can be very good because there are huge reservoirs of moisture stored deep in the soil. Graziers can also carry cattle for longer periods and cushion the effects of low prices and market fluctuations (McVeigh, 1978).

DROUGHT

The first scientific study of drought in Australia was produced by Foley in 1957. This study identified seven major drought periods and several other periods of severe losses. The first recorded drought in Australia was 1864- 1866 which was closely followed by droughts in 1880-1886 and 188&-1889 which caused low wheat yields. The Great Drought of 1895-1903 lasted seven years and cut the sheep population of Australia by half to fifty million, reduced cattle numbers by 30% and cut wheat yields. Heathcote (1969) says that until 1957 comprehensive surveys on droughts were not undertaken and it was not until 1%5 that the Bureau of Meteorology instituted a “Drought Watch” in recognition of the potential recurrence of the event. The limitations of the Australian documentation can be clearly seen when compared with the records for England and Wales which Shaw (1979) has described in an earlier issue of Disasters. Shaw was able to construct a table of droughts for the years 1697-1976.

Droughts in Australia vary in frequency and spatial distribution. Heathcote (1976) says that not only is all of Australia open to drought but most of it suffers frequently. In 1970, for example, 80% of Queensland was reported to be a drought area with 81 shires, nine cities and four towns in the drought stricken regions (Warwick Daily News, 3rd September 1970). In contrast, Queensland was only affected in a small way by the 1973 drought which covered five states - east coast Tasmania, central and south eastern Victoria, north and north western New South Wales, the Upper Murrumbidgee area of South Australia and vast areas of Western Australia (National Times, 1 4 t h January 1973).

In country areas these major drought disasters lead to primary producers suffering income loss, local governments have unpaid rates and there are movements of the

Disasters/ 8/ 2/ 1984

NATURAL DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA 85

population in search of employment. The city dweller pays higher prices for food and has water restrictions. There are also effects on the national economy from the lowered productivity of primary industry.

The effect of drought on the primary producer is to reduce soil surface moisture and this decreases crop and fodder growth. Stock are unable to survive without water and producers are faced with cartage of water and fodder or sending the stock on agistment (where payment is made for the use of pastures). If these measures cannot be undertaken stock are destroyed and in severe circumstances the properties are abandoned. The Canberra Times (19th March 1971) gives an example of drought effects:

“Wool prices have crashed, graziers are deep in debt, and re-stocking is a financial impossibility for many of them. Outback towns are dotted with empty houses and shops; men who once worked on stations have gone to seek jobs in the cities. Even some of the station-owners have left their properties to seek work.”

Many drought problems arise when pastoral management is geared to the “good rainfall year” as this is the exception rather than the rule.

In droughts as with floods there can be some benefits. Heathcote (1976) suggests that shortages raise market prices. Another advantage is the reduction of overpopulated herds to a more economic carrying capacity. Benefits are also experienced by transport companies when moving stock and fodder. Local government bodies benefit with Drought Relief payments from the Federal Government to counter unemployment. These payments contribute towards capital works, for example dams, which otherwise would not be built and are an important source of income for local government at times when primary producers cannot pay their rates.

The question of whether droughts effect settlement patterns in Australia is an open one. The Canberra Times quoted above suggests that there is a direct relationship. However Heathcote (1969) says that the effect is not permanent.

For the city dweller the effects of drought are less obvious. In The Australian Financial Review (1st September 1976) it is stated that the city dweller only becomes aware of the problems when the cost of fruit, vegetables and meat escalate and restrictions are placed on the water supply.

However, the economy as a whole suffers severe setbacks from drought losses. The total cost to Queensland for the 1970 drought was 8200,000,000 (Queensland Country Life, 24th September 1970). Stock losses were estimated at 16.670, and property values dropped. In addition debts in the country increased as shown in a United Grazier’s Association survey which indicated that debts per head of livestock had trebled. Country towns too suffered economically and, for example, in Blackall it was estimated that 60% of the district’s people were living on credit (Canberra Times, 19th March 1971).

There were even higher losses from the 1976 drought. The southern part of the country suffered an estimated reduction in wheat exports of 8400,000,000,8100,000,000 in

wool quality and output, fewer stock for slaughter, domestic consuption and export, increased prices of fruit and vegetables, and a reduction in the liquidity of rural industry. The rise in food prices affected the Consumer Price Index to which wages were tied and further added to economic costs. Direct costs were estimated at 8600,000,000 to 8700,000,000 and indirect costs as the same amount again (Australian Financial Review, 1st September 1976).

The total drought losses for Australian primary industry between the years 1900-1966 are estimated by Heathcote (1969) as 81,600,000,000. The significance of the 1976 drought is seen when compared to the previous loss estimates.

CYCLONES

Cyclones have posed increasing threats as settlement patterns have developed in Northern Australia. Southern (1976) says that the relatively sparse distribution of people in Australia’s tropical coastline restricted losses in early years, with the exception of some marine disasters among the pearling and fishing fleets.

One of the early recorded disasters was cyclone Mahina which struck Bathurst Bay in 1889 killing 307 people (Oliver, 1974a). This was the worst death toll in Australia’s cyclone history. Other serious cyclones which caused fatalities listed by Oliver (1974a) and Southern (1976) include: the Port Douglas Cyclone, 1934, 75 deaths; Mackay Cyclone, 1958, 32 deaths; Barrier Reef Cyclone Ada, 1970, 13 deaths; Townsville Cyclone Althea, 1971, 3 deaths, and Darwin Cyclone Tracy, 1974, 49 deaths.

Oliver (1974b) says that the recurrence period for damaging cyclones to a particular locality on the most actively affected parts of the Queensland coast is 20-30 years. A tropical cyclone risk map based on total known crossings July 1909 to June 1975 is reproduced as Fig. 1 .

Associated with cyclones are storm surges, which occur when a combination of low pressure and cyclonic winds pile the sea water against a sloping coastal shelf, thus producing a storm tide above the predicted tide (Natural Disasters Organization). The Great Barrier Reef protects the East Coast of Australia against tsunamis but is no protection against storm surges (Oliver, 1974b). A number of towns along the east coast of Queensland (Cairns, Mackay, and Townsville) have low-lying districts which are seriously threatened by any storm surge occurring with a high tide. In one study of cyclones, Hopley and Harvey (1976) found that Townsville had one of the highest storm surge risks. A report in the Townsville Daily Bulletin stated that 35,000 people in Townsville’s low lying suburbs could be in danger. Oliver (1978) says that the cities can also experience problems in evacuation when threatened with a storm surge as the escape routes are easily affected by rain floods prior to the arrival of the cyclone.

The consequences of cyclones are large in terms of loss of housing. The insurance industry has therefore suffered significant losses from this hazard. Oliver (1974a) says that up to 1971 the total insurance payouts were 8120,000,000. Cyclone Althea 1971 cost the industry 850,000,OOO.

Disasters/ 8/ 2/ 1984

86 NATURAL DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA

5 > o 1 5 10 2 5 30 35 40 I 5 50 55 60 65 70 15 80 85 90 45 1W

TOTAL 389

Fig..l. Tropical cyclone risk map of Australia. Total known crossings July 1909 - June 1975. Source: Natural Disasters Organization, July 1976.

Research carried out at the James Cook University found that in the 1971 cyclone, 56% of damage was structural - roof sheeting, window failures, shifting of stumps (underneath the houses), and failures from faulty construc- tion. Most of this damage was directly caused by high winds but in a small percentage of cases (970) debris was responsible (Daily Mercury, 31st January 1975).

Cyclone Tracy which devastated Darwin on Christmas day 1974 caused damage estimated at over 85OO,OOO,000 and insurance payouts of S218,000,000. Most of this damage was to domestic dwellings.

BUSHFIRES

Cheney (1976) reports that there has been an annual burning in the open tropical woodlands of northern Australia for at least the 30,000 years of aboriginal settlement. From the days of colonization large fires have been responsible for large losses of life and property. Cheney estimates that between 194S1975 there have been major fires in all but five seasons. In extreme fire weather high intensity fire behaviour persists for less than twelve hours but enormous areas of land may be burnt when the fire recurrs within a week.

The vulnerability of different areas of Australia to bush fire is shown in Fig. 2, “Bush Fire Risk Map of Australia.” Cheney (1976) identifies fire risk zones in Australia based on return periods of 3, 5, 10 and 20 years.

There are natural and man made causes of bush fires. Lightning is one of the natural causes. Hurditch (1976) gives

Lcgend

Fig. 2. Bush fire risk map of Australia. Source: Natural Disasters Organization, 1977.

Disasters/ 8/ 2/ 1 984

NATURAL A DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA 87

an example of one western shire in the 1969-1970 fire setison where a total of 21 strikes of lightning was recorded i n one day. Cheney (1976) says that lightning fires in central Australia in the 1974-1975 fire season burnt 117 million hectares of pastoral and unoccupied lands.

Two other contributing factors to bush fires are the weather and nature of the fuel. Hodgson (1968) says that eucalypt forests have large quantities of fuel which when dried by drought creates the potential of high intensity fires. Eucalypt bark carries long distances to start spot fires on multiple fronts. With mass spotting there is a tremendous increase in fire intensity which can produce fire storm effects. The worst fires appear after periods of drought. Vines (1969) relates this to Victoria where in an average year 100,000 acres burn and in bad years after droughts between half a million and a million acres are burnt.

Loss of life has been high from bushfires, particularly in Victoria. In 1951 there were 10 deaths, 66 in 1939, 51 in 1943-1944,9 in 1%2,21 in 1%9,71 in 1973 and 5 in 1977 (Courier Mail, 14th January 1977). Forty seven lives were lost in the Ash Wednesday Bush Fires of 1983 (Oliver et al., 1984).

Cheney (1976) lists examples of losses in a number of fire seasons in Australia (see Table 1).

Table 1. Examples of fire losses in Australia

1957-1958 New South Wales Blue Mountains Fires - 150 homes, 1.5 million hectares of land

1960-1961 Western Australia - 6.1% of land area burnt, 83,800,000 losses

1964-1965 New South Wales Blue Mountains Fires - 5 deaths, 150 homes, 1.2 million hectares of land

1972-1973 Victoria - 267,000 hectares of land, 20 homes, 77,000 sheep, 900 cattle, 10,000 km of fencing

1974-1975 All states except Victoria and Tasmania experienced fires -

117 million hectares of land (50% pasture).

In 1977 another major fire disaster occurred in Victoria and 70 fires caused the loss of an estimated 640,000,000 of insured property, 3,000,000 sheep, 90,000 cattle and 120,000 hectares of prime grazing land. A thousand families were affected by fires and only 40% of these people were covered by insurance (Australian, 14th February 1977).

A description of the scene of this disaster appeared in the CuiLrier Mail (14th February 1977):

“From the air the Victorian scene yesterday was one of dead fire razed towns, blackened pasture and woodlands, dead animals piled in mounds waiting burial and smouldering homesteads and farm buildings.”

The Federal Government assisted victims with payments for disposal of stock, replacement of boundary fences along highways and railways, fodder subsidies and loans up to

615,000 to meet any difference between insurance cover and replacement costs (Courier Mail, 16th February 1977).

Alongside these losses there are some recognized ecological benefits to the land from bush fires. Gill (1976) says that is is useful for grazing lands and stimulates forest growth. However animals that are slow (for example, the koala) are endangered ecologically and plants are also threatened if the fires recur within short periods before new growth has produced seeds.

The Victorian and South Australian Bush Fires of Ash Wednesday have caused the most recent major fire disaster in Australia. Apart from the loss of life, which included bush fire fighters, Victoria lost 1,719 houses, 82 commercial properties, a large number of cars, 23 dairies and 1,238 farms. Eight thousand people were reported to be homeless. Stock losses numbered 7,000 cattle, 18,000 sheep and smaller numbers of other animals. Five thousand nine hundred kilometres of fencing were lost and 85,OOO hectares of public land were burnt. Total financial losses were estimated at 8195,000,000 of which 8164,000,000 were private sector losses (Oliver et al., 1984).

EARTHQUAJCES

The history of earthquake activity in Australia starts with reports from Port Jackson in 1778, a tremor in South Australia in 1837 and some reported activity in Melbourne’s early period. Australia has only a small earthquake hazard compared with other countries as it is not in an active tectonic area. In the last 75 years there have been 17 earthquakes of ML = 6.0 or greater which is an average of one every five years (Denham, 1976a).

The 1954 Adelaide earthquake described by Selby (1976) caused considerable damage to housing. Its epicentre was on the Eden Fault which crosses an area of the city. Denham (1 976a) estimates that the 30,000 insurance claims for this earthquake totalled 84,500,000. However the nature of the damage to buildings is questioned by Selby who states that the houses were old, of unsuitable construction and had cracks from other causes.

In 1968 the Meckering earthquake in Western Australia led to claims of 81,300,000 and total damage was estimated at 83,000,000 (Denham, 1976a). A more recent earthquake in Picton, New South Wales in 1973 was felt over an area of 60,000 km2 and damage was estimated at 65OO,OOO, of which 8200,000 were insurance claims (Denham, 1976b).

CONCLUSIONS

The brief overview of natural hazards in this paper shows the considerable threat to life and the country’s economy from recurring major disasters. The data show that little information is available on Australian hazards in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. In one example a regular pattern of information collection started as late as the 1960’s.

The lack of any coherent national policy for disaster mitigation may be partly attributed to this poor information but also to divisions of responsibility between the Federal

Disasters/ 8/2/ 1984

88 NATURAL DISASTERS I N \ e \ l s ~ U - and State Governments. The history of major impacts shows that disasters in Australia can affect large tracts of land and populations regardless of state boundaries. Impacts may also be multiple, as when, for example, bush fires and floods follow droughts. A coordinated approach to the planning of counter disaster measures is therefore an essential part of government response. The success of mitigation measures depends to some degree on public acceptance and cooperation as well as an understanding of the specific counter disaster measures that come into action when there is a direct threat from a hazard. The longer-term mitigation policy within Australia also requires coordination and a commitment of funds.

In Australia, it appears that data collection and vulnerability analysis are just commencing and the wider implications of economic loss and recurring threats to life have not yet been turned into successful mitigation measures at the national level.

REFERENCES

Cheney N.P., Fire disasters in Australia: 1945-1975, Symposium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, unpublished ( 2 6 2 9 t h May 1976).

Denham D., Earthquake hazard in Australia. Symposium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, unpublished (26-29th May 1976a). Denham D., Effects of the 1973 Picton and other earthquakes in Eastern Australia. Seismicity and Earth- quake risk in Eastern Australia. A Symposium held in Canberra on 5th December 1973 (edited by D. Denham), pp. 15-31. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra (1976b).

Douglas I., Flooding in Australia: A review, Symposium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, unpublished (26-29th May 1976). Foley J.C., Droughts in Australia: Review of records from earliest years of settlement to 1955, Commonwealth of Australia Bureau of Meteorology Bulletin No. 43 (1957). Gill A.M., Bushfires as a hazard to organizations. Symposium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, unpublished (26-29th May 1976). Heathcote R.L., Drought in Australia: A problem of perception, The Geographical Review 59, 175-194 (1969). Heathcote R.L., Drought in Australia: Some problems for future research, Symposium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra. Australian Academy of Science, unpublished (26-29th May 1976).

Hodgson A., High intensity forest fire behaviaur and associated weat her, Second Australian National ConJference on Fire, Australian Fire Protection Society, University of Sydney, unpublished (26-29th May 1%8).

Hopley D. and Harvey N., Regional variations in s t h surge characteristics around the Australian Coast, Sym- posium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra) Australian Academy of Science, unpublished ( 2 6 2 9 t h May 1976). Hurditch W.E., A review of co-ordination in Bush Fire Control in New South Wales, Symposium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, unpublished ( 2 6 2 9 t h May 1976).

Lewis-Hughes J.H., Flood evacuation 1976 Collarenebri- Coonamble, New South Wales State Emergency Services, unpublished (1976). McVeigh T., Personal communication (1978). Munro J., Sydney Morning Herald (22nd January 1974). Oliver J., Personal communication (1 978).

Oliver J., Britton N.R. and James M.K., The Ash Wednesday Bushfires in Victoria 16 February 1983, Centre for Disaster Studies, Disaster Investigation Report No. 7, James Cook University of North Queensland (1984).

Oliver J., Environmental extremes and human response: A study of tropical cyclones in Queensland, Man-Environment Systems 4, 298-302 (1974a). Oliver J., Problems in the evaluation of tropical cyclones as natural hazards, Proceedings, International Geographical Union Regional Conference, Palmerston North, New Zealand Geographical Society, pp. 345-351 (1974b).

Shaw E., The 1 9 7 j 1 9 7 6 Drought in England and Wales in perspective, Disasters 3, 103-1 10 (1 979).

Shields A.J., The Brisbane floods of January 1974. Symposium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, unpublished (2629 th May 1976). Southern R.L., Utilization of tropical cyclone warning: Can man respond to scientific progress? Symposium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, unpublished ( 2 6 2 9 t h May 1976). Vines R.G., A survey of forest fire danger in Victoria, Australian Forest Reserve 4, 3- (1%9). Yeates G. and Douglas I., Provisional summary of official attitudes and responses to flooding 1945-1974, Symp- osium on Natural Hazards in Australia, Canberra, Australian Academy of Science, unpublished ( 2 6 2 9 t h May 1976).

Disasters/ 8/ 2/ 1 984