The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > The myths of recovery > Comments

The myths of recovery : Comments

By Edward Blakely, published 7/2/2011

Based on his experience in post-Katrina New Orleans, Ed Blakely offers advice on the myths to avoid in disaster recovery.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All
"It is true local people have a lot of good local knowledge but other experts may have more information and more experience - borrow it."

Exactly. Make the local better for next time.
.....................................

"We have to tackle this issue by making sure that everyone is re-settled in ways that benefit the entire community"

If that means moving an entire suburb off flood-plains, let's do it!

.............................................
"If the levees don't work in one time, more of them will not serve in another disaster."

Surely it is a matter of degree - they might not work for another Katrina, but they may work for lesser hurricanes/cyclones.
Posted by McReal, Monday, 7 February 2011 11:15:05 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
An interesting article with some practical points for post-cyclone recovery.

I too was wondering about the wisdom of rebuilding houses in those same areas again, and building them in the same way?

After Cyclone Tracy went though Darwin, there were new building codes applied to all buildings. They have had cyclones in the area since then, and have not sustained much damage.

The towns in Northern W.A. also are targets for cyclones, but there are not many large towns on the coast up there.
Why should we continue to sustain large populations/towns in cyclone-prone areas such as Northern Queensland?

Apart from the potential loss of life and incomes every year come cyclone season, we have the huge expense of footing the bills after each of these disasters.

We know the cyclones are only going to become bigger and more frequent in these areas from now on.
Should we be rebuilding these towns at all?
Posted by suzeonline, Monday, 7 February 2011 7:54:03 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Suze, you've got to be kidding!

There are only 3 reasons for Brisbane's existence. With out them you can shut the place down.

They are mining agriculture, & tourism.

There is agriculture down south, & a bit of tourism, but the majority of the foreign exchange earning part of these industries sugar & beef are up in cyclone country.

However it is coal, soon to have gas added that funds all the south. Without it, & some other mining wealth you would not have 4 & 6 lane highways carrying highly paid public servants, & academics around the place. There would be no money to pay for the roads or public workforce. There would be no need for them either, Brisbane would be a minor wheat exporting port, & not much else.

I did find it interesting when our Anna said cyclone shelters were expensive. That would be shelters for those who produce Queensland's wealth, or service the export ports that enable us to earn that wealth.

Strangely we can find the money to build these hugely expensive roads tunnels & bridges around Brisbane that are used mostly by those who spend that wealth. Does seem to be a bit cart before the horse to me.

Try google earth, & have a look at the cyclone coast. You will find huge jetties all along it, like the one at Lucinda, [where the winds hit 186 Km/H] 4 miles long to service the sugar industry. Without these & the people who work them, there is no money for Brisbane roads.

Perhaps the people of Brisbane should leave just a little bit of that wealth up in cyclone country, for those who earn it for us all.
Posted by Hasbeen, Monday, 7 February 2011 9:05:07 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Got this email today following the PM's announcement of $17 million for flood relief.

THE TOP 8 RECIPIENTS OF THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT'S AID DOLLARS IN 2010-2011
Indonesia - $ 458.7 million
Papua New Guinea - $ 457.2 million
Solomon Islands - $ 225.7 million
Afghanistan - $ 123.1 million
Vietnam - $ 119.8 million
Philippines - $ 118.1 million
East Timor - $ 102.7 million
Cambodia - $ 64.2 million
TOTAL = $ 1,669 million -to be given away in 52 weeks
..but wait, theres more...
Australia provides approximately 150,000 tonnes of food aid every year about $65 million to
Bangladesh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Chad.
In 2010-2011 the Australian Government plans to spend almost $4.4 billion on development assistance to under developed countries.
SO.. Ask your local Member how come 2011 Queensland flood victims get $17 million so far?
When insurers, such as Allianz and CGU, provide cover for storm damage but EXCLUDE
FLOOD from their home and contents policies.
SUGGEST, we EXCLUDE them from our Shopping Lists ?
And now Gillard will give nearly $500 million for Indonesias Islamic schools which are largely moderate in outlook but there have been pockets of radicalism that have produced terrorists in Indonesia, most notably the cleric Abu Bakar Bashirs school in Ngruki, central Java, where some of the Bali bombers studied
STOP THE OVERSEAS AID NOW AND DIVERT THOSE FUNDS TO
QUEENSLAND.
WHEN QUEENSLAND HAS BEEN REBUILT AND BACK ON ITS FEET,
THEN WE CAN HELP TO BUILD MORE ISLAMIC SCHOOLS
OVERSEAS.
Posted by individual, Monday, 7 February 2011 9:23:23 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Hasbeen has got qld funding the south now. So why does qld get 30% of vic GST money.
Posted by a597, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 6:13:23 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Of the points in the article, point four strikes me as the most important and most thorny.

McReal's comment - " if a suburb needs moving, then move it" is pointed.

It is more valid than change to the building code. How do you build to cope with flood if a houses have been innundated?

Underlying this is the need for a review of zoning for residential purposes - in fact, any purpose in dangerous flood areas as with the Rocklea wholesale market.

To dismiss the above with "the dam will save us" should not be an option. Clearly the dam did not, and I have read the Brisbane Lord Mayor is not in favour of levees, then McReal's " move the suburb" becomes a solution.

However, levees should be considered because - presumably- well maintained levees saved Goondawindi from flooding. Obviously they are a useful strategy among others. Warracknabeal in Victoria was saved because locals got together and constructed temporary levees while waiting for the flood waters to reach their town.

Perhaps the building of the discarded Wolfdene dam for water storage enabling the Wivanhoe to be kept mainly for flood (less full) mitigation purposes might also be worth of another look.

Aesthetics - or beautification schemes over the practicalities of adequate drainage, as with Toowoomba, is something else which should be looked at.

The 1 in 100 year flood planning should be revisited as (in my area) it is all too frequently used to knock over locals knowledge and arguments against use of low lying areas for housing development. This is a trap for people with little of no local knowledge and often ends with damage to homes through flash flooding.

The issue of flood insurance (mandatory if necessary) if people chose to rebuild in the same position is an area for consideration. If rebuilding is not permitted, then compensation becomes an issue. council.

Underlying all this is the role of State Government planning laws which should also be subjected to scrutiny.

At the moment emphasis is on warning systems,and evacuation. Other issues should be given prominence too.
Posted by Ibbit, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 11:10:11 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
a597, you wouldn't be a school teacher would you.

You are the first person I know, who has suggested that Brisbane is in Victoria, but perhaps it floated down there, on the last flood, without me noticing. God knows you're welcome to it as far as I'm concerned.

Still, seeing as how Queensland, [or WA], supplied the foreign exchange used to pay for your white goods, cars & stuff, I don"t see why we shouldn't get a commission on your spending of it. We subsidised Victoria for long enough, when we had import duty protection of southern manufacturing industry. I wish we still did actually.

Ibbit, it is one thing to run a levy around a country town. Building one on $2000 an acre paddocks is not too expensive.

Building levies on waterfront mansion row, on land worth half a million a meter, even if it does flood, is a bit different. It is probably unaffordable.

Assistance in moving all the timber homes, that can be loaded on a truck, & moved to higher ground, would be better.

Nothing should be mandatory however. There have been many people interviewed on air, who just want to get "home" as quickly as possible. They are frightened their neighbourhood will die, if it takes too long.

Provided these people don't want tax payer subsidies, & are prepared to take their chances on the next flood, they should be allowed to do so.
Posted by Hasbeen, Tuesday, 8 February 2011 12:38:52 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
There is a vast difference between the mining exports destroying our own manufacturing industries, and it supplying sufficient work and income to insure that all Australians are adequately employed, housed and enjoy fair treatment although this last part seems to have been off the catalogue of plans of the governments and their treasurers over the last forty years. The reciprocal imports seem to have managed to destroyed many or most of those industries we had even thirty years ago, let alone forty years ago and I am sure these politicians we have had and now have, don't have a clue and worse, don't care. No real attempt has been carried out to determine if our economy would exist successfully and economically with that mining exporting or would our industries cope more successfully and economically without the mining exports, no guesses, just proven facts please.
Posted by merv09, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 4:17:35 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
I know I got off the track a bit back there, but I honestly don't understand how the powers to be allowed developers and private builders to build homes in known flood plains, there seems to be adequate areas inreasonable places elsewhere. The authorities who did this, should be taken to the cleaners, I have seen new homes built which would have been flooded, whithin three months of the 1974 flood. By the way Hasbeen, remember that the mining reciprocal imports, have destroyed our own white goods factories and others. I wouldn't brag about it, do you know how many workers are now on only two or three days work a week just to give our parties the ability to say "we only have an unemployment of 5.4%", There are about four workers with families every week, getting evicted out of homes as they were not receiving enough to pay their mortgage. It's a great outlook for our children and grandchildren, isn't it.
Posted by merv09, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 4:42:14 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Merv09, to go even more off the track, it's not the mining industry destroying our jobs, you have to go a bit further down stream to find the problem.

As a bloke who introduced many plastic materials, & production techniques to Oz in the 60s, I hate the loss of our manufacturing industries, & jobs as much as any one. I often rant that someone has to actually produce something to generate wealth.

I would much rather pay a little more for a local product. Perhaps tariff protection was not all as bad as the pollies reckoned.

In those 60s we supplied raw materials to 9 manufacturers of TV sets, & 7 of refrigerators, in Sydney alone. Where are they now.

Still you can't blame it on mining. Here's a case history.

In the 70s I was contracted by a company to set up local production of a range of high quality water & energy saving equipment, imported from the US & Europe, for the hospitality, & health care industries.

One was a chrome plated solid brass low flow shower, that did not feel like a low flow shower. Modified for Australia, they sold thousands.

In the 90s the company contacted me, & asked for help. They were being priced out of the market by Taiwan imports.

I was horrified to find I could get that same product, chrome plated with 3 rubber components, assembled, in a box, with the company's name on it, landed into store from Tiawan, for just under half the cost of the brass feedstock to make the thing here.

You'll have to ask some of our large companies why we can re-import our copper & zinc, converted to brass, & manufactured into finished products, cheaper than the raw brass here in Oz.
Posted by Hasbeen, Wednesday, 9 February 2011 11:30:09 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy