Preparing for the unexpected

This time last Monday everything was wet, it had been raining for days, but no one could have foreseen the events that were about to unfold in Toowoomba and many small towns to the east of it.  We live about two hours from Toowoomba and I've been there many times.  I never thought I'd ever see the scenes of the city centre that I saw on TV last Monday, just after a "flash flood, "an inland tsunami" "a wall of water" hit.  Call it what you will, it's been described as all of those, but what happened was something that we all thought could never happen.  Not here, not in Queensland.

There were many heartbreaking stories but the one that stays with me is that of an elderly couple who stood under trees, leaning on the front gate, with their home in the background, being interviewed by a TV reporter.  They were smiling and joking about having the flood water up to their knees.  They were wet but they were fine.  The reporter went back later to find them and there was nothing left.  No trees, no front gate, no house and no people.  Nothing.  It was like they'd never been there.

Last Monday started just like every other wet day for those people in Toowoomba, Grantham and Murphy's Creek, they didn't know their lives would change or end that day.  They couldn't have been prepared for such a catastrophe. No matter how much time they had, no amount of first aid equipment or safety gear would have protected them nor saved their lives. The only thing to help would have been to get out of there but no one knew, until it happened, that the water would sweep away all in its path.

The floods in Ipswich and Brisbane were another matter.  Those people were warned the floods were coming and many prepared for what they thought might come.  Nevertheless, the damage was so wide spread and absolute, it too just took your breath away to watch it unfold.  And when the waters drained off to reveal the oozing muddy damage in thousands of homes, shops and schools, and it all looked hopeless, people started to make it right again.  Lead by our PremierAnna Bligh, the SES, police and military personnel, the rescues and the cleanup started. Ordinary people who felt so helpless watching the waters rise and fall, formed into huge teams of cleaners, cooks and nurturers, and armed with buckets, brooms, mops, rakes, shovels, BBQs, sausages, bread and cups of tea took action and started cleaning up and feeding people they'd never met before. When they called for volunteers to help, they hoped for 5000, but well over 20,000 turned up ready to work in the stinking mud.  They were reaching out to fellow Australians and it didn't matter that they didn't know them, it only mattered that they needed help NOW.  There are many cliches tossed about these days about the Aussie spirit and what it means to be an Australian, but to all those who think it means us winning at cricket or being the best swimmers, I reckon you just have to look at what happened in the aftermath of Brisbane to know what it really means.  

So what can we take from this?  I think that it's essential to be as prepared for a disaster as you can be.  Nothing will help in certain types of disaster, like Toowoomba or 9/11 - they are too catastrophic and unexpected. In other circumstances, preparations that are well thought out and tailored to suit each different family situation, will help, there is no doubt about it.  If there are children in your family, it's also wise to practise evacuation plans and to tell children where they should go and who they should call if they're separated from the family in an emergency.  Work out, well before time, what you'll take with you if you must leave your home, plan where it is you'll go and when the time comes, go early, don't hang around thinking you might be able to stay. There are hundreds of sites that will give you ideas for your own particular emergency plan and how to prepare your family for a disaster, the job you have is to convince yourself that you need to act on this now and to customise the generic "do this" plan to your circumstances.  And I am talking to everyone who reads this, not only Australians.  The unexpected, the unthinkable and the unspeakable do happen.

If you are living a simple life, this is part of it.  Being prepared to look after yourself and your family in a emergency is another way of being self-reliant.  If you can safely stay in your home, with enough water and food for your family and any neighbours who need your help, then not only are you being true to your values, you're also allowing emergency personnel to get on with the rescue of those who need their help.  But the difficult thing here is to convince everyone they need an emergency plan, even when they think something like last Monday could never happen to them.

http://www.emergency.qld.gov.au/emq/css/beprepared.asp

Little Jenny Wren's Flood Relief Raffle  Jenny is doing her bit to help with this sweet and kind gesture.

Dixiebelle's Be Prepared Challenge.