This has been the scenario for thousands of Australians living in the Northern (tropical) state of Queensland as floodwaters of 10 metres/30 feet have swept through about 300,000 square miles (500 000 square km) of the state. The floods – triggered by torrential rain in December/January caused by the La Niña weather pattern.
If you are like me, a figure of many thousands of miles is meaningless. To give you an idea of how big an area is flooded:
- It is about the same size as all of France and Germany- combined
- It is THREE TIMES the size of England
- It is an area bigger than Texas (110% the size of Texas to be exact)
- it is about three times the size of New Zealand
- about half the size of South Africa
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| Town of Emerald, Queensland, Australia |
The real damage is the human cost-jobs lost, homes and gardens washed away and businesses lost. Heartbreaking is how soon after Christmas this has been which has meant presents of course have been lost, What I find strange are people's priorities. People have been putting their plasma TVs up high to keep them from being waterlogged (surely they can be replaced with insurance) and turning up to evacuation centres counting their Wiis in their most precious possessions. Interesting exercise I have been thinking. What would be in your top five possessions you would grab? For me:
- Photos?I realise that while I have my photos backed up, they are not all backed up online.
- Passport? (always close to my hands anyways)
- Birth certificate? An essential item for proof
- Phone (everything is on it)
- Painting from my Grandmother (not very portable)
Of amusement to overseas visitors but far from funny for Aussies has been the impact on wildlife: "Bewildered and hungry kangaroos can be seen gathered together on any scrap of high ground and at night the sound of bellowing cattle, lost and confused by the water, fills the air." (Bonnie Malkin, The Telegraph). Venomous snakes have been forced to find dry land scaring people in the process with one woman bitten.
One of the biggest challenges in a disaster is matching the skills of volunteers to the on the ground needs. Often many people want to volunteer and the systems are not ready for them and agencies can't utilise their skills. This has led in past disasters to spontaneous volunteering which is not linked to formal agencies. Sometimes these efforts are fantastic and sometimes they are actually counter-productive.
Frustratingly, is that while sometimes agencies need human labour on the ground they are resistant to "unskilled" , "untrained" volunteers. In the 2010 Christchurch earthquake, there was a major re think as people acknowledged that the emergency clean up was so huge, that as many hands as possible were needed. Many of the "safeguards", rules and regs were overturned in the process of getting volunteers out to stop chimneys collapsing on people etc. This has led to an interesting discussion. Have we so over bureaucracised volunteering that we make it hard to mobilise people when we need them?
On this occasion, volunteers are being channeled to a central registration point: CREW. Community Response to Extreme Weather. This central point will take volunteer details and channel them to all agencies that need hands on the ground.
The Volunteering Queensland team today said "volunteers may not be required for some time but people should not become frustrated while waiting to be called up. Help will continue to be needed for some time.
In the meantime, thank you to the heroes of Australia who have supported others. These include neighbours, the emergency volunteers, police and army.
To aid the recovery efforts, the Queensland Government announced Major General Mick Slater will lead the process. Donations to the Premier's Flood Relief Fund can be made here.
