Community Led Recovery video
Mayor Rebecca Enders leads us through a reflection of the recent Tasmanian Southern Region Bushfires and shares her experiences and the importance of shared responsibilities amongst communities during an emergency event.
Recovery arrangements
Municipal community recovery arrangements includes assessing community recovery needs accordingly to the four elements of recovery (Psycho-social, infrastructure, environment, economic) and determining priority actions:
- The assistance provided includes support for the emotional and physical wellbeing of community members, the reconstruction of physical infrastructure, responses to impacts to the local economy and restoration of the environment.
- The Municipal Emergency Management Coordinator, Municipal Recovery Coordinator and Deputies have the authority to coordinate emergency management requests and activities during response and recovery
- The relevant Council/s will utilise their resources to arrange recovery. Committee members can also be contacted to determine if they can assist Council’s recovery.
Municipal Emergency Coordination Centre
The Tasmanian Emergency Management Arrangements-TEMA states a Municipal Emergency Coordination Centre is established by the relevant Municipal Emergency Management Coordinator within a municipal area, under the following conditions:
- at the request of a Management Authority
- after consultation with the Mayor or General Manager
- at the direction of the Regional Controller.
The TEMA states the General Manager of the relevant Council is responsible for providing adequate workers and resources to operate the Municipal Emergency Coordination Centre and the Municipal Emergency Management Coordinator is responsible for arranging the centre to be activated, managed and deactivated.
The detailed arrangements for the activation, management and deactivation of a Municipal Emergency Coordination Centre are described in each council’s Municipal Emergency Management Plan or Standard Operating Procedures.
Powers
In accordance with the Emergency Management Act 2006, Municipal Emergency Management Committees have the following powers:
- establish sub-committees for broad functional areas or non-hazard specific arrangements that require ongoing strategic direction and input from the Municipal Emergency Management Committees.
- prescribed powers
- to do all other things necessary or convenient to be done in connection with the performance and exercise of its functions and powers.
Debriefs and Lessons learnt
A Municipal Emergency Management Committee should review emergencies that are significant to the area. This review is referred to as a Debrief.
A Debrief provides an opportunity to review decisions and actions made during the response phase. Key lessons are shared with stakeholders with a focus on a need for change to arrangements and learning from experiences.
In addition to a Municipal debrief Municipal Emergency Management Committee members may be involved with Regional and State debriefs.
Evacuation Arrangements
A MEMC, as a committee, will not be required to make decisions in relation to the evacuation of people.
However, a MEMC is responsible for supporting the Municipal Emergency Management Coordinator or Municipal Recovery Coordinator to assist them to meet their statutory obligations to ensure appropriate arrangements are in place for the establishment and coordination of evacuation centres
