Balmoral Village Better Prepared
Published on 08 December 2023
Taking action to become better prepared in the event of future emergencies, the Balmoral Village Community took part in a Resilient Towns Initiative workshop this December. Residents were among our Shire’s most severely impacted by the Black Summer Brushfires of 2019. They made the most of this opportunity to find out how to guard against such devastation recurring, from experts in emergency response and disaster relief.
Andrew Rae from the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA) and Professor David Sanderson from the University of NSW (UNSW) are the driving forces behind the program. They were looking to repeat the success of workshops undertaken in the Snowy Valley LGA. Wingecarribee Shire Council identified Balmoral Village and Wingello as priorities.
“The Resilient Towns Initiative is a Bushfire Local Economic Recovery funded project that supports communities within out LGA to grow more resilient in preparation for any future disasters,” says Corinne Buxton, Coordinator Community Engagement for Wingecarribee Shire Council.
The workshop at Wingello in October was so well received by the local community who developed strategies specific to their village, with the advice of many representatives from lead agencies in emergency response and disaster relief.
Balmoral residents came together with representatives of the NSWRA, UNSW, Disaster Relief Australia, Red Cross and Council during their weekend workshop.
“The day was designed to help the Balmoral Village community identify what community-led resilience looks like,” Corinne says.
The project will help to streamline disaster preparedness and response efforts by building effective local strategies and planning. “This project takes a ground-up approach to planning,” Corinne explains. “The key to the defectiveness of the village response is that it’s developed and owned by community members. And it all straits with a simple conversation around ‘what can we do to make out community safe?’”
Prompting ideas and discussion was a Big Map of the local area provided by Disaster Relief which was rolled out on the floor of Balmoral Village Hall. This provided a unique perspective for residents to identify local risks and work with Disaster Relief representatives to develop plans that address these.
“It comes down to trusting local knowledge and experience to understand how we can work together to further reduce risk for the community,” Corinne says. A follow-up workshop with Balmoral Village early in 2024 will assist with formulating a preparedness plan based on the outcomes of this session.
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