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Who’s been in a flood?
I’m in Queensland Australia & again we are flooded in already with the worse yet to come but we are far better off than some. The thing is with panic buying, some people buy up what they can but end up throwing a lot of it away that someone else who did without could have used, very annoying & unethical to say the least.
Topics:
floods panic buying unethical
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Kate Blake 50+
Mainly they are asking for hard labour and chain saws - I am not capable of either. But did volunteer in 3 areas that I am. Having one's own transport is essential to get from A to B, I don't have a vehicle so unless a neighbour is in the same team that will be a hinderance.
The DP is so well organised that the authorities ask for what they want when it's needed and believe me there are plenty of men out there just itching to chain saw so that need will be filled. Years ago they used to have to call for mattresses and bedding, clothes and toys for these evacuation centres, run by Salvos and Vinnies here, but now that is all automatically organised. the only extra they had to call for this time was life jackets, and this call went out over every form of media, including the megaphone on the chopper - so everyone knows and drops those items at the designated place.
It is a very well orchestrated plan and anyone jumping that is not appreciated they become a hazard to themselves and those with the designated jobs to do. Imagine the pickle if every do-gooder rushed down to do their thing, there would be no organisation or co-ordination. And those two are essential for such a large operation to be successful so everyone should respect this.
Meanwhile I'm hearing people/victims are disheartened, they are hanging their heads, lost their bounce. Twice in two years is just too much to cope with. They are frustrated that they didn't get reasonable notice, etc etc .
Should credit the ABC, it's their info I summarise.
Mathew Naismith 10+
The thing is Kate most people had plenty of time to organise a plan of action just in case as the north was already flooding & the depression was moving very slowly which of course added to the problem once it hit.
We knew it was going to hit days before it hit, of course it could have gone out to sea or dissipated but you always plan it’s going to hit, I think one place up north had 36in’s, that should have said something to the people down here however the no one could have foreseen the mini tornados. I know the rivers down here came up fast but so did the northern rivers.
People can be a little too complacent at times; we made plans for it to flood so why couldn’t have others who were caught by the flood however many did make plans I understand as this is the rainy season. We rely on others to tell us but why can’t we just use a little bit of common sense ourselves however common sense can’t help a great deal in preparing for flush flooding.
Love
Mathew
Mary M. 100+
Everything works better when there is a spirit of cooperation.
You will have to share with me what kind of work you will do in volunteering.
We had a hurricane come through in 1992....Hurricane Andrew....it hit the Homestead are really hard..
It was do disappointing to see the disorganization with the local relief agencies. Truck loads of donated things were just dumped on a corner....no tents, no order, and people showed up randomly to pick up supplies. Lots of people from neighboring towns went down to get stuff for free...so sad!!!
It took about 7 days for my church to get the relief work organized, but when it finally did, the work done was incredible.
I would get up around 4:30 a.m. and carpool down to the area to prepare breakfast alongside others. We fed hundreds of volunteers in the morning, then off they went to clean homes and repair roofs.
While they were away, we prepared lunch. Then the volunteers would come back in for lunch, and sit around to relax. Dinner was given by the homes that were lodging all the volunteers.
I remember how swollen my fingers got from all the manual labor. Even my face swelled up and I would wake up with my eyes all swollen and shut. We worked so hard.
They had a professional mobile kitchen and the cooks had experience preparing meals for hundreds of people.
Usually after lunch, the chefs in charge would have us peel and prep items for the next day, to keep a leg up.
That relief work went on for months and months. Thousands came from all over to help. Sometimes for a day sometimes the weekend, sometimes for a few weeks. I remember a group of young people who came from New Jersey.....they were so energetic. Their volunteer spirit was contagious.
Natural disasters are hard to live through. But it is heartwarming to see the best of us come out in the form of helping our fellow human beings.