CASE STUDY: Responding to a Natural Disaster

CASE STUDY: Responding to a Natural Disaster

5.  Responding to a Natural Disaster

(ii) The role of local government in recovery

Unless we personally experience the effects of a natural disaster it is hard to imagine the extent of the disruption and the huge effort required to respond and to clean up afterwards.

In the days immediately following the June storms, a Disaster Recovery Centre for the Central Coast was established in the Civic Centre next to the council chambers in Wyong. The Centre operated seven days a week for over three weeks. In its early stages it was open 24 hours a day providing assistance with everything from emergency accommodation and food parcels through to advice on insurance matters and financial counselling. Representatives from Community Services, Fair Trading, Red Cross, Samaritans and Insurance providers were just some of the personnel involved. In their official capacity and as volunteers, staff from Gosford and Wyong Councils contributed substantially to the response.

Plate 4: Food parcels (Wyong Shire Council) / Plate 5: Coordination (Wyong Shire Council) / Plate 6: Cleaning up (Wyong Shire Council)

ACTIVITY:

The Table below lists some of the needs that had to be responded to in the aftermath of the storms and floods. In the second column, place a tick against those activities which you think would have involved local government staff from Gosford City and/or Wyong Councils. In the third column, write down the name of any other organisations who may have been involved.

Storm/flood response activities / Organisations involved in the response
Local government? / Other organisations?
Issuing flood response information
Towing away flooded vehicles
Child care for flooded households
Financial counselling to flood victims
Distributing food parcels
Removing fallen trees from roadways
Clearing stormwater channels
Repairing flood damaged roadways
Building inspection for house repairs
Removal of storm damage plant refuse
Restoring damaged water supply pipelines
Maintaining records of flood-affected households
Pumping out storm damaged septic tanks
Erecting traffic redirection signs
Garbage collection
Repairing damaged public park facilities

You may be surprised to learn that either directly or indirectly, local government personnel took part in every one of the above activities.

OPEN-ENDED QUESTION:

Consider those terrible Natural Disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, involving large scale loss of life and massive devastation. What kinds of activities might be needed to add to the above list to respond to such catastrophes?