Letter to the Editor: Emergency preparedness

DEAR News Of The Area,

WITH the recent major fires just north of Tea Gardens and along the Pacific Highway, a few things have come to light that the community really ought to take to heart.

Namely, our actual preparedness for real and dire emergencies is not at the level it needs to be.

I, myself, felt the need to pack some essentials when the skies over Tea Gardens turned apocalyptic on the last day of January, and many, many people seemed oblivious to what could have become a genuine existential threat to the area.

There are several ways we can enhance our readiness, and I know that both the Tea Gardens Lions and the HNTG Progress Association are keen to do the work to enhance our awareness and preparedness, and the Red Cross has tools that will also help.

During the start of the most recent fires, I put the call out to the few whom I knew would respond immediately, and a small, fiercely dedicated team of people, most of them from the TG Lions, got together to prepare food to feed our firies out on the fireground.

They banded together at the last minute, found the supplies somehow, and made sandwiches and prepared other foodstuffs – these sincere local community members’ efforts ensured that our volunteers in the field did not go forgotten, and I thank them for that on behalf of all out there those days.

We need to be able to respond more robustly, to the extent of having a community ‘what do we do when an emergency event happens’ sort of action and contact list.

I look forward to working with the Lions, the Progress Association, and any other individuals or groups who want to assist in this endeavour.

Sincerely,
Cr Thomas O’KEEFE,
VP of the Progress Association and a TG Lion.