1. Making it and Keeping it Real Local Government and community partnerships in an emergency context
Ann Marie Roberts, Resilient Communities Officer
City of Greater Bendigo
Kym Mallamaci, Team Leader Relief and Recovery
Yarra Ranges Council

2. Integrating municipal emergency planning with Council business…..
People with disability are twice to four times more likely to be killed or injured in natural disasters than the general population.
(Diversity in Disasters Issues Paper, January 2018)

3. Council Business
Council Plan
Health and Wellbeing Strategy
Equity, Access and Inclusion Strategy
Municipal (multiagency) EM Business Municipal EM Plan Municipal Relief and Recovery Plan Municipal Relief and Recovery Action Plan

4. Strategies & Actions Equity, Access and Inclusion Strategy:
All EM procedures are inclusive of people with a disability
Others (comms, facilities, transport, events, master planning)
Municipal Relief and Recovery Action Plan
Conduct 3 year review of Relief and Recovery Plan
Confirm role and capacity of community based organisations to provide relief services (disability services)

5. Disability Advisory Committee

6. Relief and Recovery Plan Review
Terms of Reference (April)
Workshop - Communications and Connections (June 12)
Emergency Relief Centre Tour (July 29)
Workshop - Inclusive Recovery (August)
Showcase - Resilience building programs (Sept)
Report and Review (October)

7. By end of 2019/20
More inclusive and embedded municipal relief and recovery arrangements
More accessible Emergency Relief Centres (with appropriate backups)
Awareness, respect and ongoing relationships

8. Thankyou Kym Mallamaci, Team Leader Relief and Recovery
Yarra Ranges Council

9. Emergency Relief Centre (ERC) Exercise (s)
Maldon
Echuca

10. Northern Victorian Emergency Management Cluster (NVC)
Norther Victorian Emergency Management Cluster, made up of 5 municipalities City of Greater Bendigo, Campaspe Shire, Mount Alexander, Loddon Shire and Central Goldfields.

11. Who’s out and about… Disability = 22% population
Cultural diversity - skilled migration or refugees? = 4.5%
Non English Speaking Background
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders across LM = 2.25% population
Young people (12 – 24 years) = 19.8 % population
Seniors (65+) = 20% population
LGBTIQ
Demographic info from 2016 Census data – across Cluster municipalities and e.g. LM

12. How the theme for exercise come together…
How can we support our community to ensure (or start journey) agencies are prepared to support broad range of community members- disability, culturally diverse etc – support with recovery
Above stat’s
Feedback from previous
building ERC staff & volunteers capacity and experiences – particularly if not involved in a recent event
Feed back from Vulnerable to Resilient project – DIRC forum
KR Castlemaine eval – language barriers
Working with community & diverse needs
**understanding that not everyone's needs are the same

13. Planning …
City of Greater Bendigo, Disability Inclusion Reference Committee (DIRC)
DIRC forum (Vulnerable to Resilient Project)
Mount Alexander Disability Access Committee
KR Castlemaine event
Agency needs
Support from Karen Community
Support with planning
Main planning team
DIRC
MASDAC
BCHS – Karen Settlement program
EM Agencies

14. On the day(s) … EM agencies Relief Agencies Vivid
MASDAG – Mount Alexander Shire Disability Advisory Group – couple attended day
Local Government- MRM’s, MERO’s ERC managers & support officers
Process of day
Setting the scene with agencies & LG, scenario (including residents impacted)
Set up ERC
Knowing our community & their needs – Attending ERC from Karen Refugee perspective (video)
Preparing a plan for your family with hearing or vision impairment, what we need to consider
Communication tools for non-verbal people
TIS service
Making people feel at ease when arriving to ERC- work in preparedness phase

15. On the day(s) cont…
From the day

16. What did we find … Dot sheets
- If, ERC opened today, how comfortable are you with current knowledge?
What’s your understanding of the information flow between Incident to MRM (set up ERC)?
How comfortable are you with communicating with people across our diverse communities?
Feedback from day-
Greater connection & collaboration from day- connections created & gaps highlighted between agencies
Openness & safety to ask questions
work needs to be done with EM agencies around terminology people with disabilities, gender etc
Questions arising
Thinking creatively & on the toes
Embracing our true community – breaking traditional norms in our thinking and communication
New Skills
What next

17. Thanks …for more info email Ann-Marie a.roberts@bendigo.vic.gov.au