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Figure 4. The four resilience potentials forming the RAG [27]. In terms of the thunderstorm asthma case, and guided by the RAG, we can examine what happened retrospectively in order to learn and develop information systems to improve the response of emergency services to future large scale unexpected events affecting population health. One of the difficulties faced by emergency services was that, at the time people were experiencing acute respiratory symptoms, information on the cause and extent of the problem was limited. Using the RAG framework, we can look at the successes and failures of information systems when challenged by the thunderstorm asthma event, as follows: Actual: the ability to respond to the thunderstorm asthma event. Despite the rapid onset of events, the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA), Ambulance Victoria (AV) and Victorian hospitals responded quickly and increased the scale of their respective operations. The State Health Emergency Response Plan (SHERP) was not activated at an appropriate level, however, so processes to aggregate and share data were not available. In addition, neither ESTA nor AV formally activated their emergency escalation plans. The key decision-maker was the State Health and Medical Commander (DHHS). DHHS communicated with hospitals through mobile text messages, phone calls and emails to individuals such as hospital Chief Executive Officers; this resulted in inefficiency, and inconsistency of information provided to hospitals. In response, some hospitals contacted each other directly to obtain information. Critical: the ability to monitor as thunderstorm asthma developed. When information is limited, it is vital to identify triggers for action. During the thunderstorm asthma event, there was a surge in demand for telecommunications, ambulance and hospital services. Monitoring of usage by the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA; see Figure 5), Ambulance Victoria (AV) and Victorian hospitals for future unexpected events may allow for a rapid surge in demand to act as a trigger to activate emergency response plans. R.Clay-WilliamsandJ.Braithwaite /ResilientHealthCare 141