EMERGENCY preparedness is important for everyone in the Greater Shepparton communities with the land prone to flood, fires and heavy storms. Having a plan and understanding where to go and who can help is vital, it is even more vital for new Australians, or community members with a language barrier that prevents them from knowing where to turn in an emergency.
Resilience in Recovery with the Ethnic Council for Shepparton and Districts (EC) hosted two community sessions for the local Iraqi and Afghani communities in the Arabic and Hazaragi languages, as part of the 72-Hour Preparedness Survey. The aim is to have the brochure and plan available in Dari, Hazaragi, Swahili, Dinka and Arabic.
To help understand the best sources of help for any emergency, the crowd heard presentations from SES, Council and the Victorian Police, translated into Arabic by EC Community Manager Khaluf Alaikum.
“We’re pleased to see the number of people come from the community today to learn about emergency services in Australia, and more importantly, how to be prepared for emergencies in Australia. In Shepparton, there’s a flood risk, but lots of other risks as well. So having access to the right information in Arabic language is critical for these members of our community to be able to stay safe,” said SES Community Resilience Coordinator Liz Frazer.
“We look forward to continuing community conversations alongside our emergency service agencies on the first 72 hours to increase the resilience of our communities to the impacts of emergency events. There is growing pressure on the emergency sector’s resources, therefore the preparedness of communities and individuals is becoming increasingly important,” Emergency Management & Resilience Manager at GSCC Belinda Conna.
To learn more information about 72-Hours Emergency Preparedness in any language email recovery@shepparton.vic.gov.au or call (03) 58329700 and Follow Reliance in Recovery on Facebook.
