Disaster Resiliance Plan

How did the Plan come about?

It began with an unprecedented disaster – in November 2019 the rainforest was burning in our beloved World Heritage Nightcap National Park, threatening homes in surrounding hills and valleys. But the concerted effort of our local RFS brigades, NPWS, volunteers and defenders stopped the fire and saved our homes and forest from the fires’ destruction.

This event sparked a collaborative Resilience Workshop, held at The Channon Hall in February 2020. Close to 100 local people came together to look at our current climatic and societal situation squarely in the face and say “well, what are we going to do about it on our local level?”  

Recognising the impact of the fires on The Channon and surrounds, Lismore City Council applied for a grant, and employed Emma Broomfield and Katrina Burbige of Locale Consulting to assist the people of The Channon with forming a Disaster Resilience Plan.

Since December 2020 The Channon and Surrounds Disaster Resilience Group have been working with the broader community, Locale Consulting, and Lismore City Council, to create a community-led Disaster Resilience Plan for The Channon and Surrounds. See whole Plan here >> link

The Plan itself was launched with a celebration at The Channon Hall on the 24th April 2021.

(pics of community working on the plan)

Aim of the Plan

This Community Disaster Plan aims to clarify what is needed for The Channon and Surrounds community to build future resilience and provide recovery from recent events by establishing actions and programs that our community can implement.

The Plan will help our community to respond before, during and after a disaster. This includes recovering from the 2019/2020 bushfire season and preparing for other likely disasters such as floods or storm events.

It also provides practical and useful information for our community to use when preparing, preventing, responding or recovery from a disaster.

Having our thoughts and plans clearly laid out will help us be able to access grants for specific Actions in the plan.

“It’s a satisfying place to get to” says local resident, Ivy Young. “Having a plan, that has been created from the input and vision of locals, and expertise and skills of Emma from Locale Consulting, means that we now have a road-map for how we, as a community, can work together to improve our resilience and preparedness in the face of a range of disasters.”

Thanks

Thanks so much to Lismore City Council and Locale Consulting for funding, and facilitating this community-led process and keeping us on track! Of course, thanks to the group of committed and caring community members who helped put this Plan together.

Actions in the Plan

From the identified Actions, small working groups have formed to implement some of these. 

These will evolve and change, some may merge together.

Screenshots of all 19 action steps (in images folder – disaster resilience PLAN images)

Action : The Channon Hub Website
Through the process of creating this plan the need for a local website became clear- somewhere people can find information, not only about disaster preparedness, but all manner of knowledge and information sharing about living in or around The Channon. The website, www.thechannonhub.org has been created, and went live at the Launch on 24th April 2021. Thanks to the funding from Lismore City Council to help get this website up and running.