Australian Bushfires 2019-2020 - Mallacoota - Impacts on Communities

Mallacoota
A local resident, Brendan described the impact of the fires on his community in Mallacoota through his Twitter account. Some of these tweets are embedded below.

Activities: 
- Explore all the community issues described below. Create a mind map of the issues outlined, ensuring to create links between connected issues.
- Identify the challenges in determining the impact of the fires on existing infrastructure, and addressing those needs.
- Refer back to your mindmap. Rank the issues identified from the most serious (e.g. threatening life) to the least serious (e.g. inconvenience). With the person sitting next to you discuss your top three most important issues. Discuss your answers as a class.
- Choose one of the most urgent issues highlighted (e.g. electricity, clean water, food, health concerns). Imagine you are a community leader in Mallacoota and develop a plan to address this issue over a 5-10 day period immediately after the fires.

Further reading:
Victoria fires: How the crisis at Mallacoota unfolded

A lot of Vic and NSW is still having a hard time. https://t.co/rWpdAd7kEB

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 4, 2020

To get the road out of #Mallacoota open, DELWP (https://t.co/9at6liek2g) people need to inspect every burnt roadside tree for safety. They estimate they can inspect/clear 10km/day. Unsure which direction they go (Eden or Bairnsdale) on Princes Hwy once Genoa is reached

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

#Mallacoota IGA still has fresh food! Though selection is becoming thinner. Meat, potatoes, cereal, long-life milk and CANDY are running low. pic.twitter.com/nbpeotISx1

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

Power pole completely missing (burnt out) along #Mallacoota-Genoa Rd. pic.twitter.com/80BTaZ6XKh

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

#Mallacoota hall being operated by local volunteers and others as a relief centre. Lots of water to distribute. While town water is technically potable, it isn’t currently pleasant. ADF present in some numbers and appear to be organising further evac.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

Heath concerns around smoke persist. Advised to wear p2 masks outside at all times

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

Advised to stay clear of damaged houses. Asbestos may be present.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

209 people evacuated by air today before conditions deteriorated.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

Chinooks were dropping diesel for business district generator and emergency services. Access to diesel is restricted for now but will open up when possible.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

Locals are finding this infuriating. Pointless bureaucracy. At the same time, I can see the potential liability issue. The overwhelming local opinion is that the ONLY ROAD OUT should be opened as soon as it is clear of fallen trees, not when some @VicRoads guy is happy with signs https://t.co/lzVEp8rrIX

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

CFA doing a walkthrough of #Mallacoota on behalf of SP AusNet. Looking at which houses are occupied and which have solar panels. Apparently to help identify the most useful places to drop large generators.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 6, 2020

Some people with generators and the golf club are offering free phone charging but with phones being our only connection to the world, they aren’t lasting all day.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 5, 2020

Smoke continues to delay air evac.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 7, 2020

This is incredible! Thank you. https://t.co/xmAWNbLZGn

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 6, 2020

Hearing conflicting reports on how long it will take to get roads out of #Mallacoota open. Estimates are between 5 and 40 days. My guesstimate from knowledge of the roads, resources and various opinions is in the 10-14 day range for basic access towards Bairnsdale.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 7, 2020

Choules confirming there is no plan to come back to #Mallacoota after this run - this is the last guaranteed chance to get out. 20hr trip to Westernport then transfer to HMAS Cerberus

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 7, 2020

ADF are contributing fuel for the generator powering the business district. It is consuming 140L/hr. Diesel is still scarce and access is being carefully managed.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 7, 2020

Petrol situation in #Mallacoota is becoming dire. We’ve been on generator-only $15 rations since the incident and are expecting the servo run out tomorrow.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 8, 2020

I’ve spoken to the #Mallacoota pharmacy today and they’ve told me they haven’t had a medication delivery since before 31/Dec. Unfilled scrips are piling up. What is going on @DanielAndrewsMP ? Do we need to escalate to the feds to get help with this?

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 8, 2020

Health now: Asbestos and smoke risks being revisited and a reminder about personal and food hygiene in the absence of hot water.

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 8, 2020

#Mallacoota waste management has been a problem since the fires. Lions club have done amazingly by running a kerbside bin collection and getting one round of general waste out to the tip. Info about replacement bins below. https://t.co/ju4n96xaPf

— Brendan (@brendanh_au) January 9, 2020