Posts tagged as:

emergency

Kiwirrkurra Flood Documentary Project on NITV

by Robbo on February 16, 2010

A while ago I wrote about the Kiwirrkurra Flood Documentary Project

For those lucky enough to receive NITV (National Indigenous TV) it will be on Saturday evening 20th Feb 8pm AEST.

kiwirrkurra-flood

In March 2001, the isolated community of Kiwirrkurra, located 1200 km to the east of Port Headland and 750 km west of Alice Springs, was inundated with floodwaters. The floodwaters caused essential services to fail, putting people’s health and safety at risk.

All 170 residents were evacuated, first to the neighbouring community of Kintore, then on to the Alice Springs Norforce Army base. Later the community were transferred to Morapoi in the Goldfields of Western Australia, before returning to their lands and community eighteen months later.

The resultant cultural and community disruption was profound, and there are important lessons for emergency managers and coordinating agencies in working with Indigenous communities to be learned from their experiences.

Tagged as: disaster planning, EMA, emergency, FESA, fire, kiwirrkurra, policy

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Remote Indigenous Communities Advisory Committee

by Robbo on October 15, 2009

in Indigenous,Remote Living

The Remote Indigenous Communities Advisory Committee (RICAC) was formed in 2004 specifically to address emergency management issues in remote indigenous communities. This information is passed through to the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management.

Their main achievement has been the creation of the National Emergency Management Strategy for Remote Indigenous Communities

A newsletter is produced twice yearly (the first can be found here). The current newsletter is now available. RICAC Newsletter 2 (331)

Another great achievement has been the production of the documentary about the flooding of Kiwirrkurra

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Tagged as: aboriginal, emergency, Indigenous, remote, RICAC

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Worrying for Kiwirrkurra

by Robbo on October 13, 2009

in Indigenous,public health,Remote health,Remote Living

Kiwirrkurra suffered tremendous floods in March 2001. I wrote about the significant social dislocation and harm to the community members after they were evacuated. Remember this is a mob whose last inhabitants only walked in from a traditional way of life in 1984.

Since then the disaster planners have made regular trips to Kiwirrkurra and other remote communities to understand how best to assist should a natural disaster strike. There were important lessons to be learnt and to assist with this and to disseminate the lessons learnt a flood documentary was to be produced.

This documentary is now available. It can be ordered on DVD
or watch the 7 YouTube videos below.

Look closely to see how far and often they were relocated. Thousands of kilometres.

Disclaimer: I work with the health service that serves Kiwirrkurra

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Tagged as: disaster planning, EMA, emergency, Emergency Management Australia, FESA, flood, kiwirrkurra, relocation

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Telehealth in Western Australia

by Robbo on August 24, 2009

in Professional Services,Remote health

A recent ‘Short Communication‘ to the Rural and Remote Health Journal looked at the results of a very small survey to determine what telehealth needs were most required out bush.

The survey looked at the views of health managers and physicians working in non-metropolitan areas of Western Australia as to what the telehealth priorities were.

While the order of the first four health priorities was different, both groups had the same collective priorities.

Health managers wanted telehealth services (in priority order) for wound care, emergency, psychiatry and ophthalmology. Doctors wanted telehealth mainly for psychiatry (35%), wound care, emergency and ophthalmology.

To have a better sample size I see no reason why remote health services could not have been included. Telehealth is even more important in these areas where in some areas patients can be away for at least a week just to attend a specialist appointment.

In my belief the needs would have been the same, particularly mental health as mental illness is the second largest cause of illness in remote areas of Australia

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