Community

Posted by  admin —February 8, 2009
Filed in Just observations

Victoria, Australia.

The weekend that has just passed witnessed some of the most horrific (natural) events in our short history. The toll on human life, wildlife and community infrastructure is still being counted … the numbers of injured and dead keep rising as do the numbers of homes, shops and buildings.

I live with my wife and 3 young children in an area of dense bush on the south west coast of Victoria. Again, our National Park was spared. We had no lightening strikes or fire-bugs to get a wildfire started. At some stage in the next decade, our coastal communities will probably experience a fire like the fire that is still burning throughout many parts of Victoria.

The numbers, the scale and magnitude of the events are too much for our mind to grasp … as I write this I feeling numb and my heart and love goes to all those people who have suffered loss.


My good friend and colleague Viv McWaters lives not far from me and is part of this SurfCoast community. Viv has written this blog post from the heart and calls it Time for Action. I am with Viv on offering expertise when communities are ready for it … Viv writes:

“Support family and friends, neighbours and strangers. Here’s some resources to help.

For those of us lucky enough to avoid disaster THIS time, continue to build our individual, family and neighbourhood resilience.

Donate our expertise. I’m working on how to coordinate this for facilitators. It’s too early for facilitation to make a difference. Right now people need to grieve, and need emergency support, somewhere to stay, clothes to wear, food and someone to hug. Over the next few weeks and months we can help with community building.


Over time lessons will be learned from these events, but for now, embrace those you love and open your heart to those who need it.

Geoff

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