1 in 3 Australians experience a disaster or the threat of one.
Community-Led Disaster Resilience Project
Alexandrina Council is working with the Australian Red Cross and Mount Barker District Council to deliver Community-Led Disaster Resilience workshops in several townships in Alexandrina. Local knowledge and strengths, neighbourhood connections and emergency planning have proven to help communities respond better and recover faster in a disaster.
What's involved?
Participating townships will receive five initial workshops facilitated by the Red Cross, aimed at enhancing local disaster resilience through community co-creation. Through the workshops we will work with residents and community members to:
- Identify local multi-hazard risks (fire, flood, earthquake etc), assess resilience, make a comprehensive disaster resilience action plan together.
- Connect community members, emergency services, and local council to share responsibility for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.
- Identify community resources and strengths.
- Plan and action a whole of community approach to disaster resilience with a focus on inclusivity, equity, and sustainability.
Ongoing support
Participants will be provided ongoing support from Red Cross and/or Alexandrina Council to implement their actions beyond the workshops and are encouraged to join the Community-led Disaster Resilience Network to exchange ideas and resources with other communities across SA.
Registrations
Workshop dates will be set based on the best availability for interested community members. Registrations are free but essential, see details below.
Upcoming Community-Led Disaster Resilience Workshops
Woodchester and Surrounds
The third of five workshops is on Monday April 22, 7.00pm - 9.00pm in the Richardson Hall, Woodchester.
Completed Workshops
Ashbourne
The Ashbourne workshops have now concluded.
Through a series of five workshops the community identified its strengths, risks and opportunities to build disaster resilience and community connection. They have developed a Community-Led Disaster Resilience Action Plan. This plan includes actions to:
- Strengthen social connection
- Upgrade community infrastructure and safety
- Increase knowledge and improve information sharing to improve connections and resilience
- Develop a 72-hour community plan that supports community recovery in the 72-hours immediately after a disaster
- Train and upskill the community for disaster preparedness
The community are now working towards implementing their action plan with support from Council throughout 2024.
Early outcomes include strengthened community connections, improved knowledge of disaster preparedness and speed limit reduced from 60kmph to 50kmph along Bull Creek Road in Ashbourne.
If you would like to know how to connect with the community members working on the plan, please contact the Community Development Team on 8555 7000 or email alex@alexandrina.sa.gov.au.
Mount Compass
The Mount Compass community have concluded the workshops with Red Cross continuing to support the Mount Compass community as they work towards implementing their Community-Led Disaster Resilience Action Plan. The community prioritised their actions when developing the plan. The plan includes actions to:
- Strengthen social connection, with a focus area of children and young people
- Develop a 72-hour plan to be able to offer support to the community directly after an emergency
- Upgrade community infrastructure and safety including creating an asset checklist
- Increase knowledge, communication and upskilling community for disaster preparedness
Red Cross lead this project with support from Alexandrina Council Community Development staff. With the support of a Red Cross facilitator a recent Redi - Plan workshop had 26 participants developing their personal preparedness plans . Another workshop is being planned for the near future.
If you would like to know how to connect with the community members working on the plan, please contact the Community Development Team on 8555 7000 or email alex@alexandrina.sa.gov.au.
Useful resources
- Alexandrina Council's Bushfires and Extreme Weather webpage: This page includes links to information about household bushfire and emergency preparedness, fire danger ratings, Bushfire Safer Places and more.
- Bushfire Resilience Rating Home Self-Assessment App: Use the app to measure how well your home would perform in a bushfire event and understand what you can do to make your home safer.
- Bushfire Resilience website: Get your household bushfire resilient with a range of free webinars and bite-sized topics.
- Community-Led Resilience Teams guide: This resource by the Red Cross will guide you through seven easy steps to establishing and developing a community-led resilience team to take action on disaster resilience in your local community.
- Community Support Hub Guide: Community Support Hubs enable communities to gather locally to obtain social support, seek information and have their basic needs met before, during or after an emergency. The Community Support Hub Guide explains how communities can establish and operate a Community Support Hub, including case studies from South Australia.
- Preparing Your Community for Disasters and Emergencies handbook: A South Australian handbook that explains the community disaster planning, preparation, response and recovery process and how to build community resilience, drawing on local case studies.