REGISTERED BY AUSTRALIA POST - PUBLICATION No. VBH 6369
THE
RO U CLU
Start to 2011 marred by natural disasters
T
ABOU D N B
MARCH 2011
“We’ve had ten years of drought, followed by the worst floods in living memory. Then cyclone Yasi hit. Bushfires in WA and NSW…just as well we don’t have any active volcanos!” This statement pretty much sums it up. It was a terrible start to 2011 for Australia in terms of natural disasters.
The floods Floods wreaked havoc on urban and rural communities, leaving a trail of destruction across four states and killing 35 people. As tens of thousands of people in floodstricken towns and cities in Queensland worked to clean out their homes and offices, heavy rains and floods meted out fresh disaster, this time here in Victoria. Four major rivers were in full flood, with 43 towns, 3,500 people and 1,400 properties affected. Hundreds of people had to evacuated their homes. Everyone in Echuca prepared to be swamped by the Campaspe River. Even the army was called out to assist in sandbagging. The floods began in Queensland where they caused billions of dollars in damage from broken infrastructure, lost commodity exports and the paralysis of the state capital, Brisbane, a city of two million (see also interview on page 9). Queensland has accounted for all
fatalities, though the floods have also hit New South Wales and Tasmania.
Swiss Assistance
It is estimated that this disaster, linked by some scientists to global warming and rising sea temperatures, has caused damage estimated at $10 billion or more.
The Swiss government generously donated CHF10,000 to the Swiss Community Care Society in Queensland to help support Swiss that have been affected by the flood.
Victoria’s State Emergency Service described flooding in the north-west as probably its worst since records began.
“Three-quarters of the town was under water. Some of those houses will probably have to be bulldozed. The force of the water was just unbelievable. Every street that the river was running down was just like a torrent, even cars were washed away. The water is just brown and stinks,” a resident said. In Victoria thankfully no fatalities occurred and no reports have been received of Swiss that have been affected to an extend that they would need assistance.
off roofs, toppling trees and causing widespread power blackouts. Cyclone Yasi, an enormous system with an epicenter of over 80km wide and winds of over 280km per hour, threatened Australia with its second major natural disaster in as many months but ended up missing heavily populated areas. The eye of the cyclone crossed the coast near the tourist town of Mission Beach and damaged areas around Tully and Cardwell, where many older homes suffered severe damage. The storm destroyed a large part of the nation’s sugar cane and banana crop as it moved across Queensland and into the Northern Territory.
Cyclone Yasi
No end in sight
Queenslanders voiced relief and surprise after one of the world’s most powerful cyclones spared the northeast coast from expected devastation as it made landfall on Wednesday, 2 February, with no reported casualties despite winds tearing
Even as this edition goes to print, the extreme weather conditions continue. Bushfires in Perth and the Hunter Valley where one firefighter perished and Melbourne saw flash flooding that turned Camberwell Junction into a river.
In Charlton, the Avoca River was running higher than in the historic 1956 floods, inundating much of the town.
89 Flinders Lane • Melbourne 3000 • Victoria • Australia • w w w.s w i s s .o r g.au/s w i s sc lu bv i c
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