Sydney, Australia
Thousands of volunteers have rallied to help flood victims in Australia, following the worst flooding disaster on record in the state of New South Wales.
Debris in a street in Lismore, New South Wales, following floods. PICTURE: Courtesy of St Vincent de Paul Society
Clare Van Doorn, regional director for the north-east of New South Wales with the St Vincent de Paul Society, is currently in Lismore where she is coordinating recovery efforts for at least the next four weeks.
She said many people on low incomes are housed on the flood plains and have lost everything.
“They haven’t got flood insurance because they can’t afford to have it. You either have insurance, or put food on the table,” she said. “Someone said [it cost] $A23,000. That’s so much money if you’re on NewStart.”
She said some people will never recover from the trauma of the past days after suffering in recent years through bushfires and previous floods.
“I’ve worked particularly in this role and my other role with all the disasters that we have had lately and the recovery – some people will never recover from this because it’s beyond their capacity. We have layer and layer of trauma. They are resilient people, but this is just layer-on-layer.”
She also said she is hearing stories about people sitting on rooves – some for nine hours – waiting for someone to rescue them, and of the devastating losses people are experiencing, including those who went through similar events in 2017.
“It’s a cycle of trauma that’s laid on them,” she said. “The level of water – 14.4 metres – unbelievable!”
Clare Van Doorn, regional director for the north-east of New South Wales with the St Vincent de Paul Society, in Lismore. PICTURE: Courtesy of St Vincent de Paul Society.
Members of Anglican communities in the north of the state are also volunteering to provide emergency assistance for thousands of people who have lost everything.
Anglicare works alongside partner organisations the Salvation Army, the chaplaincy network and Red Cross that supplies volunteers from its churches and the community when Department of Communities and Justice opens evacuation centres following a disaster.
Owen Gray is a disaster coordinator with Anglicare who is organising volunteers in evacuation centres in the region, including at Murwillumbah, Casino, Kempsey as well as Lismore.
“Anglicare pretty much does whatever is needed, really. It helps other agencies with catering, if need be…our main role is to supply material aid so if people arrive with nothing we find them toiletries, towels, clothes, bedding, that sort of thing,” he said.
Some people who have “lost everything and have nowhere to go” have been staying at the evacuation centres before the Department can find them accommodation or temporary accommodation if they can get back into their homes.
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He spoke of people’s resilience, and some of the work their volunteers do is to just sit and listen to people.
“The people who have arrived, [and] been rescued from rooves in some cases, by flood boats and so forth. They will have to rebuild their lives [for some people]. There have been a lot of stories of heartbreaking devastation for people that’s for sure.”
As she plans what needs to be done, Van Doorn describes the mud that’s been left behind – and the smell that hangs in the air – as well as the mountains of rubbish, including “planes that had been washed up into trees, mattresses…and stuff that’s been pushed up into the highest places that shouldn’t be there. It’s just unbelievable”.
Footpaths are now the resting places of piles of rubbish – of entire household contents, much of which was unable to be insured, as well as equipment and stock from local businesses, fixtures and fittings “ripped” away by the force of the current.
Working out of the emergency recovery hubs, the Society is immediately providing financial assistance, as well as helping with a sorting place for the countless donations coming in from outside.
“Housing is going to be the biggest issue that we will have in the coming weeks, because these people have just lost everything. And if they’ve got a house that’s still standing, it’s been so totally inundated with water that just to get in and clean it up – the mould and all that – so that’s really difficult.”
She said while they usually don’t advocate setting people up in tents following a disaster, this was a likely solution because of the significance of the loss of homes.
Flood damage in the shop of St Vincent de Paul Society in Lismore. PICTURE: Courtesy of St Vincent de Paul Society.
Van Doorn said there has been plenty of food and water, but donations particularly what’s been coming in as well as with corporate partners have been really good as well.
“The feeling in the community and people helping each other out is just fantastic. “We’re local in our communities. We do this all the time: looking after people, the vulnerable and marginalised, but in disaster as well, this is just shining through. The human spirit is alive and well. That’s wonderful in time of devastation.”
Van Doorn says cash donations are the best form of assistance to support people affected by the floods.
“We are, unfortunately turning [non-cash] donations away. We hate doing that. We do not like doing that at all, but there is nowhere for them to go…Cash or financial support is what we need at this point in time.”
To give to the Vinnies flood appeal, head to www.vinnies.org.au/page/Find_Help/Flood_appeal/.
To give to Anglicare’s 2022 Lismore Flood Appeal, head to https://anglicarenorthcoast.org.au/donate/
