Putting aside what caused the fires and thinking as a mother, wife, daughter, sister - and being thankful that my family is safe....
I know that we ALL feel for those who have been affected by the bush-fires in our country, and especially in Tasmania which has suffered major losses. I have been on the other side i.e. responding to disasters for several years and offer the following.
Australia has disaster plans that address these situations and also cover the Recovery aspect of such disasters which can go on for many months.
For those of us who wish to make a difference, a contribution, please think of donating money, whatever the amount. Having been employed to respond to disasters for several years these people do not need second hand clothes/furniture that you have no use for. They need a hand up and also to maintain their dignity when they have lost everything. Every aspect of requirements has been identified along with where to access bulk amounts quickly. Our charitable organisations do not need to use their money to remove and dump several football fields of unusable donations that are generally given in these circumstances.
The firefighters who are our combat agency for this situation, will put out the fires. The supporting agencies will help those affected - they have access to funds and supplies to handle such situations.
PLEASE listen to what we, as the public, are asked for and contribute accordingly. We all want to help, this is our nature.
Let us make our help valuable and make it count. Let us assist those affected by listening to what the agencies (trained to respond to these disasters) ask for and give that and not what we think is needed.
