Developing a Community Led Resilience plan – CN932

Developing a Community Led Resilience plan

Work has begun to gather the concerns, experiences and ideas of residents of the Mangrove Mountain and Districts community with the aim of developing a community led resilience and disaster preparation and response plan.
The Red Cross notes “Recent global trends within emergency management have seen a shift towards a sharing of responsibility between various levels of government, emergency agencies, community services and communities themselves. With disasters being more widespread and intense, and official resources limited, emergency agencies have neither the capacity nor the volunteer base to support all affected communities during an event, particularly in remote locations.”
“Communities are increasingly taking on a level of responsibility for their own emergency preparedness, response and recovery from disasters. This has a range of social and environmental benefits. Local communities know their history, risks, people, resources, capacities and geographical location better than anyone from outside the community.”

The NSW DPI, the Red Cross and Central Coast Council in conjunction with the Mangrove Emergency Planning & Communications Committee, the Mangrove Mountain & Districts Community Group and the Mountain Districts Association have planned a series of events to encourage community engagement in this undertaking.
The first, a Community BBQ and Engagement day held on 24th September provided an opportunity to meet with representatives of the Red Cross, DPI, Carers NSW, Mangrove Mountain RFB and the SES.
Then, on the 11th October the Wholesome Collective conducted a free nutrition and cooking class and community connectedness workshop that was booked out. The people from the Wholesome Collective are specialists in practical nutrition education. They teach essential life skills with a strong focus on cooking skills, budgeting and implementing nutrition recommendations to improve the physical and mental health of clients.
A Farm First Aid workshop was held on the 26th October at the Mangrove Mountain Memorial Club with participants provided with nationally recognised statement of attainments in “Provide Basic Emergency Life Support” / “Provide First Aid”

There are two more community participation events to be held:

Wednesday 8th November 6pm to 7:30pm at Mangrove Mountain Hall – A Simtable, which is a digital sand table, will be used to provide custom simulation models to explore the way fires and floods move through the landscape.
There will be an opportunity to review the issues raised at the Community BBQ & Engagement day and to begin discussions on the structure and elements of a community led resilience and disaster preparation and response plan.
Wednesday 22nd 6pm to 7pm at Mangrove Mountain Hall – This session will be an opportunity to flesh out more of the community resilience plan, to plan future actions and form a project team of community members to carry it forward.

With advice and support from emergency management agencies such as Red Cross, State Emergency Services (SES), and Rural Fire Services (RFS), as well as Local Emergency Management Officers at local councils, communities can improve their preparedness and resilience for disaster events. Community-led Resilience Teams (CRTs) provide a way for community members to support each other and improve their capacity for disaster resilience.
For more information go to https://www.redcross.org.au and search for Community-led Resilience Teams.