Free workshops to help local residents prepare for natural disasters

Published on 15 March 2024

Emergencies can happen anywhere and at any time and often leave significant and long-term impacts.

With this in mind, residents in the Federation Council area will have the opportunity to become better prepared for emergencies through four free Australian Red Cross Rediplan workshops being held 2-4 April.

The Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation (RAMJO) and Federation Council have engaged the Red Cross to facilitate the workshops as part of a Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF) project administered by the NSW Reconstruction Authority and jointly funded by the Commonwealth and New South Wales governments.

The RediPlan workshops will help community members begin their own household emergency RediPlan and provide them with the knowledge and tools needed to continue preparing themselves, and the people most important to them, for emergencies.

“One of the aims of the DRRF project is to build community preparedness for times of disaster. We saw an opportunity to work with the Red Cross to help residents create RediPlans, and they have enthusiastically come on board to facilitate the workshops”, said Emily Sharp, Project Manager at RAMJO.

Cr Patrick Bourke, Federation Council Mayor, said, “We’ve seen the broad and long-lasting impact of storm events and flooding in our community recently, and we want to help our residents prepare for future emergencies by considering different emergency situations, what they should do to prepare, and how they will respond”. 

“Taking action prior to an emergency has long been recognised as a way to reduce the impacts of disasters,” Australian Red Cross Emergency Services Regional Officer Kate Johanson said. “We know that having a plan helps people cope during and after a disaster because they’ve already thought about how they will react and feel if an emergency happens.”

Community members are encouraged to attend one of the free Red Cross RediPlan workshops in Mulwala, Urana, Howlong and Corowa which will be held at the following locations and times: 

A light lunch/supper will be provided and all participants will go in a free raffle to win an emergency kit worth $200. Community members can RSVP to RAMJO Project Manager Emily Sharp on 0436 370 722 or [email protected] .