The recent Melbourne bushfires have been the worst natural disaster in Australian history. The official death toll (as at 14 Feb) is 181 and this is expected to rise as authorities check more of the 1,800+ homes lost to the fires.
While the widely held view is that our emergency services have responded extremely well to this enormous challenge, in the immediate aftermath it seems that some policing of the fire zones is actually counterproductive. In particular, some restrictions on residents’ access to their fire ravaged home towns seem quite inappropriate. It has been reported by the media and independent sources that residents who have remained behind to tend to their properties are running out of food and drinking water, yet Victoria Police are hampering self-help relief efforts by blocking public road access.
In the case of a fire related death a crime scene is usually declared and public access is restricted until the necessary evidence has been collected by police. This law serves our society well under normal circumstances; however our current circumstances here in Victoria are anything but normal. It seems that Victoria Police have declared whole towns crime scenes in some cases and are restricting public access, even to residents who leave the town to fetch drinking water and food for those who remain behind. I can only assume that our emergency and social services are so overstretched that they’re not able to provide this kind of relief to all who need it.
If there has ever been a need to adapt the law to serve the public good in time of crisis, then surely this is it. The inappropriate, blanket application of rigid rules during a crisis is a sign of a failing system; one that is unable to adapt to change. In nature when living things stop adapting to change, they die out.
If this situation doesn’t change soon, then Victorian citizens will be justified in questioning the competency of our leaders to manage this crisis appropriately. As a former defence and emergency services officer with 20 years experience, I am sure there is some way to permit the flow of essential supplies to these residents who are effectively being blockaded in their own towns.
From what a friend in my network has told our little community, it helps to have someone with insider knowledge to get around roadblocks and such to get in and out of places like Kinglake.
“… While the widely held view is that our emergency services have responded extremely well to this enormous challenge, in the fireimmediate aftermath it seems that some policing of the fire zones is actually counterproductive. In particular, some restrictions on residents’ access to their fire ravaged home towns seem quite inappropriate. …”
Hi Steve, your comments here are pretty on the mark.
To give you an example my Dad survived the fire with house intact at Kinglake West, KLW [0] which is closer to the relief base in Whittlesea than Flowerdale which up the road. By Tuesday my brother, sister, her bloke managed to secure a generator, petrol and deliver it by smuggling the thing in. We are now in the process of organising 3 x 1K litre IBC Shutz’s [1] to enable a sterile source of bulk water. After this the basics are covered. We simply are not going to wait for top-down responses. This is pretty much a “best-case scenario” of the 3 basics covered.
It’s +day7 at the moment and while “shelter”, “power” are there for my Dad in Flowerdale releif is just tricking in. I was pretty shocked at the “lack of speed” outer areas like Flowerdale. By Thursday Pete’s twits [2] starting getting out. That is +day6 after the fire and people are there without basics of Water, food, shelter. [3] Pretty staggering in some ways if you consider the distance from KLW to Flowerdale is <10Km. Not everyone in that region has access to outside support, people who have the time & ability to source the mountains of kit, then the logistics to move stuff 30-50Km or more into the disaster zone at the same time hacking around the cordon. What has to happen is the bottom-up response has to be matched by the top-down response. The response has to be measured with flexibility. Edges hacked off as you suggest.
Q) My biggest fear is a proportion of the displaced, will go into a spiral decline. How can this be checked?
“… I am sure there is some way to permit the flow of essential supplies to these residents who are effectively being blockaded in their own towns …”
This is one thing I’m sure some individuals have worked around. I’m also noticing “reliance” on authorities but only because there is no other option. What makes the Flowerdale response so p*ss-poor is there are a lot of other small communities that don’t have access to Coms, influence or outside help. The cordon line at Whittlesea to Kinglake didn’t lift until a) group of Kinglake residents started to make their voices heard and b) one held together blasted the premier live on @774Melbourne until he couldn’t give a reasonable answer.
[0] http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/sets/72157613465373056/
[1] Despite the fact there is a 63K litre tank & bore. The tank is contaminated with poly-liner which burnt to the ground. Pump head burnt & no power.
[2] http://twitter.com/rexster
[3] http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootload/3274188584/