Extreme weather events and disasters such as last year’s tornado that ripped through Armidale can create long-lasting effects in the people who experience them. However, greater resilience can lessen these effects and assist recovery in the face of such events in the future, so Sustainable Living Armidale is presenting forums this Thursday, 3 March, to help build this resilience.
Participants can choose to attend either one of two options, an earlier session at 4–5.30 pm or a later session at 7–8.30 pm. These will be held at the UNE SRI Nova centre at 122 Faulkner Street Armidale (the renovated old library building).
The aim of the forums is to give people who were impacted by the tornado and other interested residents the opportunity to gather together and
- share their experiences during the October 2021 tornado
- identify what helped and what needs to be improved
- put forward their ideas on how our community can build its ability to respond and recover in the face of future emergency events
The intensity of the tornado, which tore a path through the Armidale on 14 October 2021, took residents completely by surprise as did the resultant level of destruction. Numerous houses were damaged, with roofs ripped off two houses, and extensive areas of tiles smashed on many others. One car was completely flipped and a swathe of flattened trees extended across the landscape for a distance of 42 km.
Support from emergency services volunteers was outstanding, with emergency funds made available through government and Armidale Regional Council coordinating the clean-up. Assistance from local organisations such as BackTrack as well as local businesses and individuals was also much appreciated.
For many people, aspects of their lives have had to be put on hold while they deal with ongoing issues such as living away from home and damage to houses and gardens that they have loved and cared for, plus concerns about accessing financial support to repair and rebuild. For some, there has been considerable frustration at delays in having insurance claims processed, as well as lack of availability of builders and materials. Renters also had to deal with the challenge of delays in having damages repaired.
It is evident that many residents continue to experience the worry of a wet summer with big tarps on their roofs, views impaired by boarded up windows (for some) and anxiety when weather conditions threaten heavy rain or strong winds.
The current extraordinary and catastrophic flood emergency on the NSW north coast and in South east Queensland highlights yet again the need for communities (as well as Governments) to be better prepared and respond quickly in the face of more frequent and more intense climate driven disasters.
To present this event, Sustainable Living Armidale has teamed up with the NSW Government funded Scorched Project, which is an initiative of the University of New Englands SMART Region Incubator. The Scorched Project aims to grow our ability to mitigate bushfires and to help our communities to recover and build resilience in the face of challenges such as drought, bushfire and tornado. It also seeks to gather together innovative ideas for building business and economic resilience to the challenges posed by climate extremes.
We hope that you can join us at one of these gatherings. While you can attend without registering in advance, it would help us in planning numbers if you could reply to sewa.emojong@une.edu.au.
