The February 13 storm caused massive damage across Bass Coast. By Helen Zervopoulos
THE recent community recovery meetings were an opportunity for council, emergency services and AusNet to understand how the devastating storm on February 13 affected the community in order to improve strategies to deal with natural disasters in the future.
The meeting at the Grantville hall was extremely well attended by both residents and emergency service representatives, including the SES, CFA, Police, Ambulance and allied emergency service personnel, as well as AusNet.
Western Port councillor Geoff Ellis introduced the agenda and praised the community and emergency response teams on the way everyone had worked together to find ways of community support and give help to those in need.
THE recent community recovery meetings were an opportunity for council, emergency services and AusNet to understand how the devastating storm on February 13 affected the community in order to improve strategies to deal with natural disasters in the future.
The meeting at the Grantville hall was extremely well attended by both residents and emergency service representatives, including the SES, CFA, Police, Ambulance and allied emergency service personnel, as well as AusNet.
Western Port councillor Geoff Ellis introduced the agenda and praised the community and emergency response teams on the way everyone had worked together to find ways of community support and give help to those in need.
The positive vibe he was attempting to foster quickly turned into blame and finger pointing once the meeting was given over to the attendees. It became clear that there was a lot of anger in the room and quite a few people were there to blame AusNet and the council for not doing more to assist those who were most affected, including businesses and those who went for more than three days without power.
I must say I don’t have much sympathy for people who go to meetings to play the blame game and draw attention to themselves and their personal grievances. Those who expect council and other authorities to jump to it, fix their problems and ease the suffering and inconveniences they experience due to a natural disaster have a very narrow perspective on the bigger picture.
It is obvious that natural disasters including fires, storms and floods will become more frequent as global warming continues to affect climate change throughout the world.
Yes there will be devastation, suffering and inconvenience. As individuals we need to become more resilient and be better prepared for these events.
Emergency services do their best to clear debris, offer medical assistance and community support. AusNet has taken on the feedback regarding a warning system and back up support to minimise the telecommunications fallout in future freak events.
The purpose of the community recovery meetings was to get community feedback in order to be better prepared with emergency response solutions in the future. I congratulate council staff, officers and councillors for caring and taking the time to organise these meetings. I thank all the emergency service personnel who dedicated their time in doing such a wonderful job in cleaning up the devastation and giving support wherever they could.
I am grateful that we have these support services and I count myself lucky to live in such a caring and civil minded community.
I must say I don’t have much sympathy for people who go to meetings to play the blame game and draw attention to themselves and their personal grievances. Those who expect council and other authorities to jump to it, fix their problems and ease the suffering and inconveniences they experience due to a natural disaster have a very narrow perspective on the bigger picture.
It is obvious that natural disasters including fires, storms and floods will become more frequent as global warming continues to affect climate change throughout the world.
Yes there will be devastation, suffering and inconvenience. As individuals we need to become more resilient and be better prepared for these events.
Emergency services do their best to clear debris, offer medical assistance and community support. AusNet has taken on the feedback regarding a warning system and back up support to minimise the telecommunications fallout in future freak events.
The purpose of the community recovery meetings was to get community feedback in order to be better prepared with emergency response solutions in the future. I congratulate council staff, officers and councillors for caring and taking the time to organise these meetings. I thank all the emergency service personnel who dedicated their time in doing such a wonderful job in cleaning up the devastation and giving support wherever they could.
I am grateful that we have these support services and I count myself lucky to live in such a caring and civil minded community.