Hobart crowned worst city for zombie apocalypse but professor says data is wrong

What is your chance of surviving a zombie apocalypse in Tasmania? SEE THE RESULTS >

While Hobart has been crowned the worst city in Australia to survive a zombie apocalypse according to new data, a prominent university professor disagrees.

Data released by Rentola determined which Australian city would survive a zombie apocalypse.

Each city was scored in five categories including vulnerability, hideouts, supplies, safety and mobility between one, being the worst, and 10, being the best.

Hobart received a score of 6.30 for vulnerability, 4.22 for hideouts, 1.48 for supplies, 1.96 for mobility and 5.71 for safety, making a total average score of 3.9.

Brisbane was crowned the best city to be in an apocalypse with an average score of 7.2, with Sydney closely following behind. Adelaide and Canberra were rated at 4.5.

But the results from the data have raised a few eyebrows.

In a British study released in journal Sustainability in 2021, Tasmania was recognised as one of the top five places in the world to survive a global collapse alongside New Zealand, Scandinavia, the British Isles and Patagonia.

Writers Nick King and Aled Jones argued a small number of places in the world had major advantages as events like climate change and pandemics impacted human societies.

The report said Tasmania was less likely to experience climate change impact and had great electricity supply, agricultural resources and population density.

For Sun Tas. Professor Jason Byrne from the Geography and Spatial science department at UTAS in relation to the recent major flood event in Hobart. Picture in front of the flood damaged library. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

University of Tasmania professor of human geography and planning geography Jason Byrne said he believed Rentola had Hobarts results the “wrong way round”.

“Queensland is the state that has incurred the biggest costs from natural hazards like flooding and major cyclones,” he said.

“Hobart is bushfire prone, but Zombies don’t handle fire very well.

“There are loads of good hiding places in Hobart and we have the added advantage of steep topography. This gives us an advantage in seeing them coming and rolling heavy things downhill on a Zombie hoard,” Mr Byrne said.

“Cars come to mind and are pretty useless once fuel runs out. Brisbane’s freeways would become parking lots.”

Mr Byrne said that electricity had not been considered in the results.

“Mainland Australia doesn’t have the hydro capacity we have so if their power goes out, food goes off and nobody can do operations, etc,” he said.

“Hobart is surrounded by nearby Defence bases so lots of firepower close by.

“Tassie also has a much higher score on social capital and volunteering than the mainland, so more likely folks would look out for each other and if we look at Covid border closures, Tassie and WA fared much better in being able to close borders.

“We could keep the Zombies out. If they did get in, perhaps on a cruise ship, we have reliable water supplies, good agricultural land and abundant food from a highly efficient agricultural industry so no problem waiting them out.”