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WA Rotary Relief
 
Rotary has in place a WA Rotary Relief organisation, in perpetuity, and formalised for all disaster relief work, heatwaves, bushfires, droughts, floods, severe storms and tropical cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis and landslides.

Advice is shared across the Country and ideas for Wooroloo came from Lions and Rotary collaborating in support of our Communities in Victoria, South Australia, NSW all of whom had been through similar situations – immediately support is based on what works.

Rotarians in WA have a deep compassionate history of supporting those in adversity.  In adversity we see the best of the community - they start by doing what's necessary; then they do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

WA Rotary Relief are supporting three West Australian areas of need:

 

  1. The 2021 Wooroloo bushfire - a fast moving bushfire that started on 1 February in Wooroloo, 45 kilometres north-east of the Perth central business district, in the City of Swan and the Shire of Mundaring, Western Australia.

 

The Fire Scar – 86 houses lost.

 

  1. The April 2021 Severe Tropical Cyclone Seroja that made landfall in Western Australia's Mid-West region.  At around 8 p.m. local time on 11 April, Seroja made landfall on the western coastline of Western Australia as a Category 3 severe tropical cyclone, slightly south of the coastal town of Kalbarri, bringing heavy rain and hurricane-force wind gusts (about 170 km/h, or 110 mph). Later that day, Seroja began accelerating south eastward while weakening.

 

  1. The February 2022 fires through Western Australia's agricultural heartland one in Shackleton in the shire of Bruce Rock, about 200 kilometres east of Perth, and another near Narrogin, about 200 kilometres south-east of Perth. The bushfires came after two other major fires destroyed homes in southern WA in Denmark and Bridgetown.

Operations

Community responses before, during and after a disaster are a valuable resource in disaster and emergency management.  Rotary is not, and never will be, a 1st responder nor 2nd or a 3rd - Rotary is nimble and able to provide any type of assistance that didn’t fall into more formal categories quickly.

The aim of the WA Rotary Relief team is to provide long term support to local residents, farmers and communities directly impacted by the disaster.

The beauty of our organisation is that Rotary Clubs all over our State, Australia and Internationally can quickly join and co-ordinate whatever assistance is needed as a cohesive group.  We collaborate with National, State and Local Governments.  

Every situation demands unique and locally driven responses – the Wooroloo response provided the following:

Containers (~$214K)

Forty-Seven (47) containers were acquired and distributed to needy clients in the fire zone.  40 of these were 20’ containers and 7 were 40’ containers. 

Containers, in cargo-ready condition, were exceedingly difficult to access over this period and a small number of Economy Containers were also purchased to fill the demand.  All containers delivered were lockable and waterproof.  Many messages of thanks were received from recipients.

A stark reminder of something simple helping so much.

Tool Library (~$73K)

In conjunction with the Minderoo Foundation, as they constructed the Accommodation Pods two Tool Libraries were completed in parallel and provided to Rotary from our design.  The design came from a Lions Clubs in the East – classic efficient and effective collaboration.

The first Tool Library was put in place on Tilden Drive with the second at the Wooroloo Liquor & General Store these are 14km apart, one at the Gidgegannup end and one at the Wooroloo end of the Fire Scar, to enable those affected to have access to tools over the longer term assisting in the rebuild process.

The Tool Library, we contend, is more than the provision of tooling for work – they were managed by Rotarians, sympathetic and empathetic to those using the facility and part of the healing process with a warm cuppa tea and caring support chat whenever the Tool library is open for business.

The Gidgegannup Tool Library was handed over to the Gidgegannup Men’s Shed and the Wooroloo Tool Library was handed over to Parky Care – the facilities will stay in the Community and will be assets for the Australian Resilience Corps to which Rotary is a partner.

Rotarians providing tools but also solace.

A practical application of support

Fencing (~$165K)

The Fencing operation commenced with support for BlazeAid – that organisation is a very effective volunteer-based organisation that works with families and individuals in rural Australia after natural disasters such as fires and floods. 

Rotary’s BlazeAid support commenced as they were setting up at the State Equestrian Centre where the WIFI Pro Bono network was installed and additional support such as cooking dinners, providing office equipment, and fencing supplies to affected people.  Support for people supporting others.

BlazeAid subsequently moved on and the triaging of the needy is continuing with the City of Swan, the Shire of Mundaring, and the Department of Communities and Rotary is still in place to help.  Now creating a fencing support capability in the Community with the Men’s Shed.

The April 2021 Severe Tropical Cyclone Seroja (~$16K)

The focus for this disaster was on Mental Health support services in the Kalbarri/ Northampton region.  A very different event where the swathe of destruction was huge and difficult for us to focus on one area.

There are still people living under tarps and still struggling with getting any insurance from the insurers.  There are real mental health issues happening and the Shire of Northampton and the Josh Kennedy Foundation partnered with Jon Haines to deliver a specific character development program for post Cyclone Seroja.

We supported JK Rock Solid Leaders Program.

This program in partnership with Rock Solid Character was a leadership program aimed at young people that live in the Mid-West region. It was an intensive (stay at home) camp over three days. The first two days were introduction to Rock Solid Character Program (Jon Haines), the Complete Athlete program (Mark Hutchings) and JK staff. The third (and final) day was at a public lunch where young people will be able to meet local employers, service providers and have the opportunity (both in front of a crowd and one on one) speak about their experiences in their academic, sporting and personal lives. This would be hosted by the key financial partner of the program, assuming they are based in the region.

The program incorporated 50% young people that have received a scholarship from the JK Foundation’s Sports Scholarship Program and 50% from Community supported programs. This ensured a diverse range of young people that have varying strengths. Creating an environment of young people with different areas of knowledge and skills enables each young person to learn off each other. Selection did not entirely rely on sporting achievement as they sought a diverse range of skills and experiences. 

The February 2022 fires through Western Australia's agricultural heartland

This was another different situation and different areas did different actions.  The RC Albany Port had been working with BlazeAid and spent $25K of a $100K RAWCS grant on fencing.  In Denmark Blazeaid advised that some 54 properties had been affected and materials were required to replace between 50 and 70 kilometres of fencing at a cost of $10,000 / $15,000 per kilometre.  BlazeAid exited and PDG Ray Hirst was well advanced to continue the spend working with the Shire of Denmark, the Denmark Community Foundation Inc and Department of Communities.  Ray also gained approval to spend on other items other than fencing like Water Tanks etc.

The RC Katanning managed another $100K RAWCS grant to install a 500KVA Diesel Generator - a strategic investment that will be of use for their whole community for many emergency situations, including fire, flood, and any other natural disasters.  The generator, connected to the Katanning Leisure Centre has increased the efficiency of the centre, giving community members a safe place to reside during an emergency.  The Centre would also be available to be used in a heatwave event if power was to be lost to the town or air conditioning was not available for residents.  Having the ability to support local families including the elderly and very young assists with reduce stress levels.

The Bottom line is, we needed to spread the funds as far as possible to those in need.  For example, paying for labour to erect fences will quickly use up funds for materials.  The connections we have with Blazeaid have in the past enabled us to borrow their fencing trailers and connected us with competent Blaizaiders to assist others to erect fences.  Then, have groups formed to assist each other erect fences should we supply the fencing materials.

The main issue is foe us to assist with Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (known as DRFAWA).  The DRFAWA Guideline help asset owners understand the requirements when undertaking the restoration of essential public assets.  DFES coordinates all communication with the Commonwealth and will confirm whether an event is deemed eligible. 

To be an eligible event, these criteria must be met: coordinated, multi-agency response is required, and the cost of emergency assistance to individuals and communities, and/or damage to essential public assets, is estimated to exceed $240,000 (costs for the event as a whole - not costs for each local government impacted).  These fires were ineligible for assistance.

We continue to identify the most appropriate areas of funding such as Shackleton Complex Bushfire: 6-15 February 2022

DFES - Department of Fire and Emergency Services, did not declare any of the 10 WA fire areas as a disaster – the last to be declared were the Wooroloo Fire and Cyclone Seroja which has made it difficult to find the most needy area to support in a seriously large and geographically diversified area.  Meaning the paid State employees from Department of Communities and DFES were not deployed, and it has been up to LGAs and Community personnel to lead.

That said, the combined efforts of WA Rotary Relief, Disaster Relief Australia (DRA), the Minderoo Foundation, ParkyCare WA, Local Government Authorities, Lions Clubs, Individual Community Groups and individual Rotary Clubs banding together to formulate the final decision with the State Department of Communities.

Progress has been substantial, but expenditure will be most appropriately and sustainable made at the right time.

Summary

For you in your role to assist:

  • *Need to seek input from membership re support/interest – yes advocate for the WA Rotary Relief
  • *Form sustainable sub groups or working parties if necessary – yes we need to do more of this and once we settle down in the Rotary Western Australia it will be appropriate to spread the word and gain assistance from suitably qualified people
  • *Need to promote the projects to clubs – yes absolutely and we all have a role there

To contact the District Coordinator Click Here