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Hello to all the people mentioned above and everyone else who has followed the events first described by
@Shaz51 and me, @HenryX
under the heading
“Re: Climate Disasters ---- Cyclones”
and in particular the recent Tropical Cyclone (TC) Seroja event.
Power has been restored to most of the area in which I live, as of last week. There are a few houses, including mine that require electrical repairs before power can be reconnected. However, for the most part things are back to what could be called fairly normal.
Last week, most of the emergency crews were finishing the last of the temporary repairs, safety issues and protection from further water damage to various buildings around town.
The following information has been copied from the:
Community Cyclone Information Update - TC Seroja, 28 April 2021, 0900 hrs
WHAT EMERGENCY SERVICES ARE DOING
• DFES personnel from throughout the state will continue to maintain a presence in the affected area.
• State Emergency Service (SES) Volunteers from across the state are actively responding to requests for assistance in affected communities.
• The Incident Management Team are actively working with DFES personnel locally and across the State to ensure the safety of the community.
• Emergency services have received over 1452 calls for help to date.
• DFES personnel including staff and volunteers from SES, Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service, Career Fire and Rescue Service, Marine Rescue, Volunteer Fire and Emergency Services and local government Bushfire Brigades continue to have a presence in the affected communities and are assisting with recovery efforts.
• Storm damage teams from New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland along with Australian Defence Force personnel have completed their tasks and are returning to their respective home States.
• Those community members with urgent requests for SES assistance, as well as those who no longer require assistance, can call 132500.
In addition to the above, The Red Cross, Salvos, Food Bank, among others, and counselling support services have been offered to people in the affected communities.
All of the above indicates the scale and scope of service provision during and following this event.
I had direct contact with Fire and Emergency Services, SES, and Red Cross personnel and phone contact with Disaster Relief Assistance staff. All of the people with whom I spoke were courteous, and appeared to me to be caring, concerned, effective and efficient in their use of time and materials.
In a few words, the work and effort provided by all the personnel from other areas, regions and States as well as agency staff and the various City and Shire Local Government employees was impressive. The work was done quietly, quickly and efficiently.
Initial problems with communications, I believe, may have slowed the capacity of the people in the communities in their ability to request help and caused some initial concern and anxiety. But once those issues were attended to, the provision of assistance was expedited. I know that, during this time, Shire staff were actively evaluating and assessing damage and seeking out those people who required assistance.
No doubt there will be recommendations made following an analysis and debriefing of the response to Tropical Cyclone (TC) Seroja. That analysis, I believe, will be important because it will assess the preparedness of Government, other service providers {including communications, power, water and sanitation} and NGO agencies to respond to any unusual and unexpected catastrophe, whether that be a result of natural (weather systems) or human forces and action. I believe that such preparedness is, unfortunately, very necessary in view of possible foreseeable events.
I have provided the above details as a
Mark of Respect and Statement of Appreciation
for the work and service provision by all the people involved in this TC Seroja cyclone event.
Thank you, also, to all forum members who expressed concern, sent notes of support, said a prayer or conveyed their thoughts in support for the people here during that cyclone.
With My Very Best Wishes to All
HenryX (& Kirra)
