Being emergency ready When the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley flooded earlier this year, an ISV project to promote flood preparedness proved invaluable.
C 12 ISV ANNUAL REPORT 20202021
On 19 March, the day came that the Get Ready for Flood Social Housing Sector Project had been preparing for when the HawkesburyNepean Valley experienced a 1-in-50 chance per-year flood. About 3,000 people were successfully evacuated, which only goes to prove it really does pay to be prepared.
ommunity surveys undertaken in 2018 revealed that there was a lack of awareness of flood risk and limited preparedness undertaken within social housing communities in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley. The social housing sector was identified as a “community of concern” for its high concentration of social and physical vulnerability, with around 3,300 properties at risk of being impacted by flooding — either by direct floodwater or essential services being cut off. Many social housing residents have complex needs due to mental health, drug and alcohol misuse, ageing, and other factors. There is an increasing proportion of social housing tenants aged 65 years and above in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley. Many have poor mobility, have physical or intellectual disabilities or psychiatric conditions that impair their functional capacity. Many of the tenants live in isolation and have no connections with the wider community or communication avenues such as social media. The Get Ready for Flood Social Housing Sector Project was a partnership between Infrastructure NSW, Inner Sydney Voice, and the University of Sydney. Infrastructure NSW manages the flood strategy for Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley, is well networked in the region, and was able to advocate for needs to be addressed as identified through the project. Inner Sydney Voice has a long history of working with tenants, housing providers and community organisations, and is well-regarded for its resilience work in the Inner Sydney region. The project aimed to develop lasting partnerships between stakeholders to promote flood awareness and disaster risk reduction as a shared responsibility; empower local stakeholders to increase resilience and emergency preparedness throughout their community; and embed preparedness building activities and strategies into the local community.
