Disaster plans in place for Maroochy
Mon 15 May 2006
Nicole Richardson, Journalism
The Maroochy Shire Council is confident and prepared with its Disaster Management Plan ready for action if a cyclone or major storm hits the Sunshine Coast.
Maroochy Shire Disaster Management Group acting executive officer Graham Milliken said council’s plan worked in conjunction with local facilities and was part of a three-level preparation for disasters both natural and man-made.
“There are three levels, and the lowest level is the local level,” he said.
“We have a disaster co-ordination centre which is located in our council chambers, where the management group will congregate and control things from. Council actually has what we call an incident room.
"The council has specific agencies that have things to do and that’s primarily water and sewerage, roads and health,” Mr Milliken said.
Mr Milliken said resources were one of the main concerns in the event of a disaster and the council would rely on other councils and governments for resources, but they would need the locals to lend a helping hand.
“You use what you’ve got, when you need something you can’t find then you ask the next level…You really do need the local people there to have things organised because they know what resources are there,” he said.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster for Severe Weather Section Geoff Callaghan said major storms and cyclones over the last 60 years had severely damaged parts of the Sunshine Coast as they brought the ocean inland.
He said the most recent was the effect from Cyclone Fran in 1992. But he said the most devastating was Cyclone Dinah which hit in January 1967. It was a category four and devastated the Sunshine Coast, flooding most of the region.
Mr Callaghan said these storms and cyclones indicated there were relatively high chances of the Sunshine Coast being hit by a cyclone, even as devastating as cyclone Larry.
Mr Callaghan said in order to be prepared for a cyclone, the Sunshine Coast needed to realise the potential of a severe storm hitting the area.
He said the major difference between the storms 60 years ago and today was the population. With more people living close to the water, more people would be affected.
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