Burra Community Led Emergency Resilience Project
28 local Burra community members got together and participated in four emergency resilience workshops, facilitated by the Australian Red Cross.
The workshops were aimed at taking the group from talk about potential local emergencies to action planning, and they certainly did not disappoint! Broad representation from across the community, including emergency services, local council, local business, community services and organisations, sports groups, health sector and more, has allowed for a whole-of-community approach to the project. The wide representation facilitated cross-community input and communication, and has resulted in some valuable plans and ideas emerging throughout the workshops.
With the first set of workshops coming to an end, a series of working groups have formed around some key first resilience-building activities prioritised by the group. Working groups will be looking for wider support from the Burra community as they progress with their activities.
A scenario-based auditing activity will be taking place, whereby a working group (with mixed representation from local emergency services and community) will consider a diverse range of emergency scenarios and put into place relevant processes, resources and/or information to ensure that Burra has the ability to cope for the 2-4 days following the advent of an emergency. Contact Arianna on arwatson@redcross.org.au (or 0498031929) if you’re interested in getting involved with this valuable activity.
A Children, Youth & Family Resilience group has been formed by those passionate about engaging families and young people in resilience planning and education, with a recent new additional group member joining from Burra Community School. If you are a young person interested in building emergency resilience, or someone connected with local youth wanting to get involved, Lysha would love to hear from you on heartlandhealthsa@gmail.com or
A third group, referred to as the “Fridgies” have started off planning for the creation of an emergency information fridge magnet, aimed at making basic emergency information easily accessible to everyone. Want to join the Fridgies? Reach out to Jenny on studiojproduction@hotmail.com.
Also in the works, are some activities aimed at strengthening communication between various local Emergency Services and engaging more community members in their operations. If you’re interested in volunteering with local Emergency Services or have a local event an emergency service can attend for community engagement, contact John Walmsley (Burra Police) on