Page 1188 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
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Most people will know of the community recovery roles of the Australian Red Cross, the Salvation Army, Anglicare, St John’s Ambulance and St Vincent de Paul. I also recognise our lesser well-known recovery services and partners: the Adventist Development and Relief Agency helps find temporary accommodation for people who cannot go home; GIVIT helps match the needs of affected people with generous donations from families and businesses; Volunteering and Contact ACT helps match volunteers to organisations helping in recovery and clean-up work; ACTCOSS and Communities@Work help us ensure that vulnerable Canberrans are supported; and CatholicCare, Lifeline and ACT Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network work with ACT Health to provide psychological, emotional and pastoral support. We appreciate the hard work of all our community recovery partners and thank them for the willingness to be there in times of need.
In preparation for major emergencies the ACT government has identified five ACT government colleges to be used as evacuation centres if required. Colleges work well as evacuation centres as they are large, well set up, have ample parking and are wheelchair accessible. The education directorate has installed backup power systems to ensure that buildings are air conditioned, lit and, importantly these days, have wi-fi access even when the power goes down.
It is also important to note that pets are welcome at ACT evacuation centres. This reflects lessons learned in other disasters when people have been unwilling to leave their pets at home alone as fire or flood approach. Safe areas are identified for animals designated for each evacuation centre to be managed by domestic animal services.
Recently the ACT government in conjunction with the Australian Red Cross conducted a major community recovery exercise. On 4 March 2019, we conducted exercise Frida, an evacuation centre exercise at the Hedley Beare Centre for Teaching and Learning in Stirling. Led by the Community Services Directorate and Red Cross, the exercise simulated operating an evacuation centre in response to a large bushfire on Black Mountain.
The scenario tested processes to receive people evacuating neighbouring suburbs and stand up government facilities. An independent evaluator was contracted to evaluate the exercise and document learnings and observations. The independent evaluator concluded that exercise Frida was a well-planned, realistic and effective exercise.
When I visited the exercise, I saw firsthand how staff and volunteers engaged with the scenario and worked to test procedures to deliver the services of an evacuation centre. I was impressed with the focus on supporting the personal and emotional needs of evacuees.
The national principles for disaster recovery tell us that effective recovery requires all activities to be coordinated and well communicated. The exercise gave staff and volunteers the chance to meet and work together and to learn about each other’s services and programs. Through this we strengthened relationships and improved coordination for any future evacuation event.
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