Collaboration towards emergency resilience

The project has used the experience of the Murray River floods to develop a range of materials supporting community resilience in an emergency.

Development of Community Emergency Management templates

Through research and consultation, it has delivered several templates that can be adapted for individual councils to provide services in an emergency, building community resilience by providing information and pathways for getting help.

• Community Emergency Management Plan Template; and
• Local Town Emergency Maps, and
• a website, Building Resilience in the Community,

Community-Led Disaster Resilience

This project fostered greater collaboration among councils, support organisations, and their communities. It directly addressed the needs of both the community and the councils. Several workshops were conducted to gather information on what community and council staff are required to respond effectively during emergencies.

the workshops that were held in Murray Bridge and Waikerie provided data from the Councils impacted by the 22/23 flood.  They were represented by staff from Coorong, Alexandrina, Renmark Pariniga, Murray Bridge, Mid Murray, Berri Barmera and Loxton Waikerie.  The information provided by these councils was integral in the creation of the final document and website for distribution.

Community members impacts were drawn from other events held by other service providers including SAFECOM, Red Cross, NAIDOC Panel, SACOSS, AC Care and IReach.  The data collected from these events were reflected in the issues that councils were faced with and confirmed what was required in the project document and website.

This is sometimes difficult to predict where people can evacuate to depending upon the natural disaster that is occurring.  Therefore, Emergency Services, be it SES, SAPOL or CFS will often advise of where to evacuate to.  However, it is good to provide the information to community of where the “Last Resort or “Safer Place” is located in townships, noting that not all townships have these.  Therefore, a link to our community directory showing community groups in an area provides ‘Champions” in communities that can advise of places where to meet in times of need.  These documents have also been created and are easily changed by other councils to populate with their own information.

Social Planning  of the Effects of the  Murray River  Floods

Mid Murray Council worked closely with RMIT to map some of the experiences and trauma that local residents experienced during and after the flows.

Background and purpose

In 2022-23 councils had to deal with the immediate impact of the Murray River floods.

They had to relocate residents who were forced to leave their homes, set up communication channels, assist the elderly and people with disabilities, bridge cultural gaps and protect indigenous sites.

While local councils are well-prepared for flood-related tasks, the recent flood event showed they struggled with the social and well-being demands in their communities.

Council staff received many pleas for help, information, and support, and the lack of clear referral pathways made this more difficult and painful. This project has created a number of templates, making it easier for councils to plan and act to support their community in the case of an emergency.