Helping the community back on its feet

Queensland’s summer flood disaster requires a recovery operation of unprecedented scale. The Department of Communities has been at the front line in the arduous task of cleaning up, helping people in an area bigger than New South Wales to bounce back.

It has been a crisis reported in terms of “invading” floods and titanic battles pitching makeshift levy banks against flooding rivers.

Matched against this historic natural disaster is an army of government agencies and volunteer organisations, under the direction of Major-General Mick Slater.

As the lead agency responsible for community recovery functions, the Department of Communities has a major front line role – and one which will be ongoing for some time.

Recovery centres have been set up by the department in every flood zone. In these converted schools and community halls, department staff – distinctive in their yellow vests – have been prominent workers in a hive of activity.

The centres become the hub of each community, says the department’s director of community recovery, Phil Carney.

“The government’s first priority in a crisis is, of course, safety and meeting immediate needs,” says Phil. “During this emergency phase, evacuation centres are established to provide the basics of a place to sleep and be provided with a meal.

“As people gradually return home or find alternative accommodation with family and friends, communities move to the recovery phase.”

The department’s primary objective is to help get people back into their homes and for householders to tap into financial assistance so they can replace uninsured essential household goods, such as furniture and whitegoods, that have been destroyed in the flood. 

Phil Carney says that recovery centres are “a triumph of teamwork” as workers from many state government agencies work alongside employees or volunteers from agencies like the Red Cross, Lifeline the Salvation Army and Centrelink.

The department’s recovery worker who provides residents with information, advice or practical support could be a local – or come from anywhere in the state. “In these crises, hundreds of staff are deployed from their work in human resources, client and business services, information technology and other areas to provide assistance on the ground,” says Phil.

“They handle every conceivable type of inquiry from displaced and often distressed individuals – a role that requires the highest levels of communication skills and empathy.

“For residents in extreme circumstances, without basics like food and clothing, our people distribute Personal Hardship Assistance and Support Grants.”

Teams of outreach workers use the centres as a base, driving out to homes when accessible by road. They provide grants to meet immediate needs for food, clothing and accommodation, and assess householders’ eligibility for other grants.

“Our teams usually include staff of support organisations such as the Red Cross or Lifeline,” says Leanne Chalmers, who was an outreach team leader at Bundaberg.     

“Sometimes we are the first agency to reach a home, responding to a phone message into the call centre,” she says.

“People are often shell-shocked….they ask what should they do, what is the next step.

“What we constantly see is how communities rally around. Neighbours coming in and starting a clean up, hosing floors, ripping out carpets. When this happens, service workers who follow up get a break, including council and SES guys who have a huge clean-up workload.”

Front line work also has its surprises. The Bundaberg outreach team went to a caravan park following a call for help, but found neither caravans nor their occupants. “The vans had all gone – either moved on or been swept away,” Leanne says.

“There was literally no-one at the site at all.” 

Terry Green, who travelled from Woodridge south of Brisbane to work at Bundaberg, says recovery staff  “get a lot of goodwill from the community”.

“It certainly helps maintain spirits as we do our best to refer people to the right agencies, to help properly address their issues and concerns.

“Of course, there is pressure due to the stress that the event placed on people. They’re having to manage the impacts on themselves, on their friends and on their families.”

Terry adds: “Some people are very appreciative and gracious, they thank us personally and it is quite humbling.”

Information about financial assistance is available on the Department of Communities website or by phoning the Community Recovery Line on 1800 173 349.

Challenges of a role on the front line

Experienced recovery centre worker Ian McDougall, a senior media officer, describes what it is like in this front line role:

“Recovery workers get to see people at the end of their tether, people who’ve lost possessions, homes and often livelihoods and have to rely on welfare and handouts just to get through each day.

“Person after person, family after family offer tales of woe, tempered by uplifting stories of survival, resilience and acts of selflessness, of stoic acceptance that this is how it is and that life goes on.

“It’s a challenge to balance the need for empathy and understanding, in giving people time to tell their tales, with the pressing need to get on with assisting the next person in the queue or the family in the damaged house next door.

“They’ll give you the only chair left in the house. They’ll boil the billy and offer you a cuppa and a biscuit or a sandwich, even though they struggle to feed themselves. No matter how hard done by, people will always ask you to check on someone else they reckon is worse off.

“The people are grateful for, yet embarrassed to be in the position of having to take, the assistance we can offer. Cheques small or large are accepted with both a tear and a smile that tears at your heart. It is humbling to be in their presence.

“Recovery work certainly grounds you.”