By Natasha Fujimoto
THE community of Greater Shepparton is a rich tapestry of diverse culture and language.
With 90 nationalities and 63 languages represented in the municipality, organisations like The Ethnic Council and Point of Difference have worked hard off the back of the pandemic to get translated, key messages out into the multicultural community.
Stating that one’s language should not exclude someone from important information, The Ethnic Council’s manager, Chris Hazelman said, “Learning from Covid we set up an email distribution list with hundreds of people. With bilingual translators we were able to get emergency and government messaging out and across the community.”
With the rapid nature and frequently changing circumstances of the recent floods, however, Chris said, “The volume and complexity of the alerts and messages coming through was not only fast but changing. We would have needed a whole army of translators to keep ahead of it.”
Despite the conundrum of communication, Chris stated that the immediate response of hundreds of volunteers rushing to assist families and individuals in need was astounding and inspiring, “I can’t acknowledge highly enough the groups and individuals who selflessly volunteered their time and skills to assist our ethnic community. With homes of their own under threat these volunteers worked ceaselessly; delivering food boxes, filling sandbags and rapidly translating emergency warnings.”
Looking to the future, Chris said that the ethnic community’s voice needs to be incorporated in the emergency services planning, coordination and response processes.
With a proposal put forward to government to establish a coordinating role to work alongside emergency services and planning, Chris hopes that a robust relationship between the two will address the diverse needs of the ethnic community when faced with a future crisis.
