The Granville disaster is tragic and painful. However news is expected to be reliable. Here are quotes:
" At 15, Ms Knight had to leave school and get a job to help support the family. "We were basically just ignored," she said."

The New South Wales Government paid for the funerals of her loved ones and she received $1,000 for each of her daughters and $500 each for her father and stepmother."

..".State Rail Authority paid out more than $10 million to 207 victims and their ..."
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That is $50000 each.
Average wage $9000 year in 1976 , now $78000 so the 1976 payout would be about $400000 each today .
Other comments about the lack of compensation and hardship are in news which seems a bit wobbly.

The blame for the Granville rail disaster, January 18th 1977. in which 83 innocent people lost their lives, lies squarely on the shoulders of the toxic Liberal Government run for 10 years by the Godfather, the corrupt Robin Askin, and for a brief time by the incompetents, Tom Lewis and Eric Willis, which was in power from 1965 until May 1976, when unceremoniously booted from office by the 'Wranslide' led by Labor's Neville Wran.
The conservatives had failed to spend a penny on public transport, relying on a system of trains, buses and ferries with associated infrastructure straight out of the 1920's and 30's. Granville was very much a disaster waiting to happen. After the disaster Eric Willis then opposition leader declared that there had never been as many deaths on the railways during the Liberal Government. Willis carked it in 1999.

nicknamenick,

It comes back to us. After the shock and donations, we the public get on with our lives assuming that those responsible for taking action will do so. Few of us (the public) choose to maintain interest and follow-up. We trust others to do that.

Having been personally affected by tragedy wrought by Nature, we were surprised by the vacuum in support and interest after the event.

I believe that government is poorly equipped to administer support services including distribution of any relief moneys and it should contract that out to the reputable NGOs who are already in that business.

It is important that we consciously develop and model resilience and self-reliance to our families. Be aware that no politician or public bureaucrat is going to be frank with you that you may wait a long time for help, the help in a disaster is always limited and after the event it is even more restricted. Government just doesn't have the resources (or the political will). In fact, government and its bureaucracies can be relied upon to put huge $$s into defending against compensation claims. Expect too that funds set aside for compensation can be drained by administrative and legal costs.