Fires, floods, pandemic: A year of disaster recovery at Red Cross

This time last year, I was madly interviewing people to fill new roles in Red Cross’ recovery operations in response to the 2019/2020 summer bushfires. I had not yet officially started back at Red Cross. As disaster workers know, disasters don’t care much for convenience! We hired almost 30 new recovery workers in less than two months. There were many, many interviews.

Some of those names on CVs and in Outlook invitations became the team now working with me to support communities through their recovery. It has been a wild year. It has been a privilege to get to know the people behind those names. It’s been even better watching them work. We recently asked a few of the team to share some reflections on their year to for an all staff blog. I’m proud, so I thought I’d share here.

Take care,

Shona

Linda McCabe, Recovery Officer - Yorke Peninsula, South Australia

During the fires, I was living fifteen kilometres from the Yorke Peninsula fires. I remember the unsettling feeling when I saw the air full of smoke and moving quickly in the strong winds. Local volunteers left their families to support national fires. There was a very odd vibe in town - quiet and considered that we had missed the fire front by a breath. The uncertainty of the severity of the fires each day forced me to go outside and check – I wasn’t sure what I was checking, but just to check.

Yorke Peninsula has a prominent farming community, and although homes were lost and farmers were affected by losing livestock, much of the community pushed down their losses and maintained a strong ‘we need to get on with it’ mentality. The community spirit continues to thrive through the ongoing conversations and assistance from Red Cross and other community organisations.

My Red Cross Recovery role has connected community members, and this has given the community great confidence to see the presence of Red Cross in the field. People in the community have commented on how reassuring it is to see that Red Cross have been, and continue to be there for the people of our community.

12 months on, the community is recovering but much is ‘pushed down’ with emotions high once the protective layers are gone. With COVID and the general year of 2020 - there is still so much more to do.

Monica Kincade, Recovery Officer - Southern New South Wales

Whilst living on the South Coast of NSW over the summer of 2019/20, I was very fortunate that our community in Jervis Bay was not impacted. People from communities that were, have described the fire threat and subsequent impact as a slow-moving dragon that reared up every few days. This caused people to feel anxious, unsettled and threatened over an extended period of time. 

The communities I have been supporting are all so very different. Some are tourist towns, some are small hamlets that I had never heard of, while others are close knit communities where people have lived for generations. 

People have needed assistance with grant applications, navigating the volumes of information they received, support due to ongoing financial hardship, being connected in with the right service or agency based on their specific need and so much more. Minority groups have been advocated for, while recurring and common issues such as mental health, waste and housing shortages have been reported to relevant authorities. Providing the right Red Cross recovery resources at the right time has proven to be very helpful for people, be that a webinar or a booklet on a particular topic. People have wanted to understand the journey that they on and how best to navigate it, especially through a pandemic and on the back of cumulative disasters (drought, fire and flood). 

I hope for stronger, more resilient and better-connected communities into the future and I know that there will be many learnings from the fires of 2019 / 2020. The recovery journey will be long and slow and there will be hurdles along the way, but I am confident that with adversity comes strength and opportunity. Optimism, hope and community connectedness are a big part of the road forward.

Jessica Davison, Recovery Officer - North East Victoria

I started working as a Red Cross Bushfire Recovery officer in the Towong and Alpine Shires in North East Victoria in late March 2020, just over a month after the major Upper Murray complex and the Ovens complex fires were finally brought under control.

We all knew that the communities were struggling with the combined impacts of the previous drought, the bushfires and the isolation due to the impacts of the COVID-19 restrictions. What really made it hit home was a number of youth suicides over a short period of time in the Towong Shire. The deaths had a major impact on local communities.

With the easing of COVID-19 restrictions I started to be able to spend more time at the bushfire recovery hubs in Corryong and Bright and to get out and spend time in the smaller communities and with local Red Cross volunteers in Towong and Alpine Shires. What has amazed me is the reception I get walking down the street in my Red Cross t-shirt. The number of smiles and thank you’s that I got from people that I didn’t know was amazing. It’s a reflection on how well thought of and highly appreciated the work of Red Cross is in disaster relief and recovery.

The leaves are now growing back on the trees, the grass in the paddocks is green and nearly a metre high and the locals are getting on with their lives with a bit of help. It will be a while before things get back to a sort of normal and the community works out where it wants to head. The sense I get as a Red Cross Bushfire Recovery officer is that these communities are glad that we are able to be there beside them helping to move on from the bushfires and everything else that 2020 brought us.

Julie Perkins, Recovery Officer - Northern New South Wales

From recent conversations with community members, it has been commonly mentioned that having to evacuate country due to the bushfires is unlike anything they have experienced. The community is a small, tight-knit group of people - up to an hour from a larger township; made up of families and elders who enjoy living a simple life. For the elders in particular, leaving community meant leaving the safe space they grew up on. Being on country is a place where they can always feel the comfort of their mob, no matter how far or wide they may be.

Tireless work and support from Local Council, Rural Fire Service, dedicated community liaison officers, and Red Cross staff and volunteers has been on-going to try and ensure that people were safe, and property was saved from devastation.

In fear of smaller communities and regions being left voiceless, I have visited the community in my Red Cross capacity to speak with the liaison officer and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs to ensure all ongoing support and allows community to determine their own needs.

These community members are a resilient mob, and although the bushfires have challenged the community, the ongoing unity will ensure preparedness and put us in a good place for any future event.

Sally Randall, Recovery Officer - South East Queensland

The last 12 months has been extremely hard for many people in Queensland who were affected by the 2019 bushfires. Many had already been through a long period of drought and had plans to start the rebuild of their homes and clear their properties, when everything stopped as the result of COVID. For many, this disrupted both the rebuilding of their homes and the ability to access trades people to undertake the work.

Part of my role has been to work alongside other agencies to support them, as they in turn provide support to their communities. One of the groups I recently worked with was a group of Rural Fire Officers who were still working to assist residents in their communities 12 months on. They had been there assisting and providing a listening ear where they could. I conducted a workshop for them on how to recognise the signs and symptoms of stress and basic self-care. At the completion of the workshop, one person came up and said that he didn’t even realise he was stressed, he just knew he didn’t feel right! He sent an email to me the following week, saying that had spoken to his family about how he was feeling and was now putting plans in place with their help to look after his own self-care.

We often forget the people in community who put their hand up to help and support others. The Red Cross Recovery team are there to provide just that support.

Jocelyn Galvez, Recovery Officer - Adelaide Hills, South Australia

12 months ago, I was working for the Emergency Services Operations Team in SA and helped during the Red Cross response to the fires across the state. The fire in the Adelaide Hills happened 5 days before Christmas, the weather was hot and windy, and it took about a week before the Country Fire Service could manage the fire. A lot of people couldn’t go back home because the roads were closed. The phone lines were down so they were unable to check on family members, neighbours and friends that had stayed to fight the fire. Many of them went back to no houses just before Christmas and one person lost his life. 

Since I started in this role, I have connected individuals with services, helped with Red Cross grants, and supported many community-led events and projects by providing PFA or providing financial support. Survivors are thankful for Red Cross work and see the value of having a Red Cross person attending their events. They are very grateful for the grants that we have distributed to them. 

Currently people are happy to have had a quiet Holiday season without any major fires but are anxious about the summer and what is coming ahead. Working in this place has showed me that there is a lot to gain when people come together to help each other.

Karen Akehurst, Recovery Officer - Southern New South Wales

12 months ago, I was living a blissfully stress-free life and fitted into my pants.

The fires were a horror movie in slow motion. Impact isn’t just about the number of homes that were lost, it’s about personal and collective trauma. Many villages were cut off for as long as 8 days with no power, supplies or communication. That experience takes its toll. Every person in those communities was deeply affected and will be for some time. 

The way people came together is legend. They found creative ways to help each other then and they’re still looking out for each other now.

COVID has prevented people coming together in a way that helps so much with recovery, so people are still very, very raw but they inspire me every single day.

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Joseph Tippett, Recovery Officer - Kangaroo Island, South Australia

The past twelve months have been a rollercoaster ride for me and my close knit, small island community. I owned a four-bedroom home and a café in Flinders Chase all destroyed, like many others out West of Kangaroo Island. Two souls perished along with countless animals & livestock with the landscape changed forever. 

Since then I joined Red Cross as a Recovery Officer helping our islanders apply for grants & organise community events. Grants money has provided a sense of relief as hope is restored. Families now have a way forward and can start the long process of reimagining their lives. 

A year on and it’s still raw and it’s still tough, it will be like that for a while. As usual this stoic community along with Red Cross will continue to watch out for one another and help our mates in need.