After two tropical cyclones lashed the Queensland coast in recent months, there are growing calls for more public cyclone shelters to be built. 

Last week when ex-Tropical Cyclone Kirrily hit the Queensland coast, the remote Indigenous community of Palm Island was forced to evacuate aged care residents and elders to Townsville before it crossed.

Cities like Bundaberg have long argued there should be a public cyclone shelter, with other smaller communities like Wujal Wujal and Burketown also calling for a facility.

Shelter should be a place of last resort

Chief research engineer at James Cook University's Cyclone Testing Station David Henderson said public cyclone shelters were valuable assets.

However, he said people should not rely on them unless they were in a storm-tide area or a dwelling that would not withstand high wind speeds.

"Everyone's far more comfortable in their home if their home is up to the task of it, and there's only so many resources around for people," Dr Henderson said.

"If you've got a more pleasant place to go, that would be the advice."

He said public cyclone shelters were built with the most robust design principles, exceeding what a normal house would be built to withstand.

"Because you're cramming so many people into one building, you've got to make sure that building is incredibly resilient and strong," Dr Henderson said.

"That minimum design criteria is [to withstand] a one in 10,000 or a severe category 5 system, so an incredibly rare but incredibly nasty event."

There are 12 public cyclone shelters in Queensland: in Townsville, Ingham, Proserpine, Bowen, Mackay, Cairns (Redlynch and Edmonton), Innisfail, Cooktown, Port Douglas, Tully, Weipa, and Yeppoon.

Cyclone shelters often double as community infrastructure, such as school gymnasiums, and are usually funded by the state, but can also be jointly funded by the federal government.

However, in 2011 the Emirati state of Abu Dhabi donated $30 million to Queensland for shelters, which was half the cost of building 10 new ones.

The Queensland government had committed to building new cyclone shelters in the wake of Cyclone Larry in 2006.

Though the individual cost can vary, the Department of Housing, Local Government, Infrastructure and Public Works said the state's shelters built from 2010 onwards cost approximately $10 to 12 million each.

It added there were additional "places of refuge" across the state, which were solid engineered structures not specifically designed to act as cyclone shelters but that could provide a level of protection.

The department would not comment on whether there were additional areas in the state where cyclone shelters should be built.

Should you build a strong room?

Dr Henderson recommended all homes in north Queensland be built with a strengthened room to withstand cyclones.

"Modern homes built since the 80s and into the 90s have been engineered and designed to resist the severe winds of category 4 cyclones, but you still have debris, still have wind-driven rain during these very severe events," Dr Henderson said.

Homes can either be built new with a strong room for a cyclone, be retrofitted into a home in an area like the bathroom or laundry, or standalone structures can be built.

"I'm in a house that was an old Queenslander built nearly 100 years ago. We upgraded the roof, we did tie down to the roof structures," Dr Henderson said.

"For us that was a bit more peace of mind to improve the strength of the roof, the robustness of our old house."