The Librarians

This morning I was speeding by train across the volcanic western plains heading towards Ararat, my Mum’s hometown 2 ½ hours west of Melbourne, to talk at a Red Cross membership conference about preparedness. I like travelling by train, as it lets me do some work, stare out the window and contemplate, and be exposed […]

Strathewen Memorial

This is probably one of the most rewarding, tangible things I have been involved in, in my work in disaster recovery. I’ve got a story to tell, which I’ll get around to writing down as part of this blog process. In the meantime, Steve and Barb will tell the story of the Strathewen Memorial. It […]

Emily hearts Marysville

Enduring a bleak Melbourne winter’s morning, Emily set up her Marysville stall at the school market. The couple of months thinking, and planning and preparing were now on her, and it was time to do the job. She was a little bit nervous “what if no one comes, Daddy?” I suppose this is the […]

In the Supermarket

Over the weekend we were in Marysville for Emily’s project. We caught up with Tony Thompson, the terrific chair of the Marysville and Triangle Community Recovery Committee (amongst other things he does). Emily interviewed Tony for her project, and he was very generous of his time (having spent a day up at the Lake Mountain […]

Ca Va?

I’ve just come across this cool website. All Right. http://www.allright.org.nz It’s another Christchurch initiative. (I love New Zealanders and their innovation) and is focussed on helping Cantabrians with the mental health issues relating to the Earthquake. They utilise a wellbeing approach that was developed by the New Economics Foundation in the UK. “Economics? “I hear […]

An Update on Emily’s Marysville Project

Just a little update on Emily’s Marysville project. She is in full swing now, as part of her Year 6 Geography Unit . She’s doing her impact assessment, got in touch with local leaders, has booked a stall at the market (August 2), created a roster, made a piggy bank, and creating her communications. The […]

After the quakes

On my morning walk with the dog (his second for the morning, so he was feeling a bit tired) I listened to an amazing podcast from Radio National’s 360 Documentaries, After the Quakes on Christchurch, nearly three years after the first quake, that one of our great volunteers Catherine Young put me onto. This is […]

Firestorm

This is worth a look through. Thanks to Sophie Cunningham for drawing my attention to this http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/may/26/firestorm-bushfire-dunalley-holmes-family It is a Guardian newspaper project that documents the journey, thus far of the family whose image was captured sheltering in the water at the jetty at Dunalley in Tasmania during the fires earlier in the year. It […]

Gong

Today I went to a lovely reception at Government House in Melbourne. The occasion? Receiving a National Emergency Medal for services in both the Victorian Bushfires in 2009 and the Queensland Floods in 2010/11. It was fabulous to be there with dedicated colleagues, both volunteers and staff, seeing them be recognised for what was one […]

When the Generals Talk

We have this great tension over leadership in recovery management. On paper, our principles (which people don’t realise have been around since the late eighties) tell us that it should be community led, which is in line with a participatory approaches to governance, and the role of government is to facilitate. So that’s the theory, […]