A “recovery centre” for the residents of Tathra affected by the bushfire is opening from 10am Thursday.
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A wide range of vital services have been gathered together in a “triage” style setting at the Bega Valley Commemorative Civic Centre.
Represented are various insurance agencies and assessors, NSW Health and mental health services, EPA, Red Cross, SafeWork, NSW Small Business, Legal Aid, FACS Housing and Disaster Welfare Services for low income earners or the uninsured.
The recovery centre, as well as other efforts across the next phase of Tathra’s rebuilding, is under the care of recovery coordinator Euan Ferguson.
Mr Ferguson has more than 40 years’ experience in emergency services and was recovery coordinator for the North Coast Floods in 2017.
He was also the special inquirer into the January 2016 Waroona bushfire that destroyed over 100 homes in southwest Western Australia.
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Mr Ferguson will be responsible for arranging accommodation for those in need, supporting clean up efforts, and working with small business and the broader community to help the recovery effort.
“Tomorrow [Thursday, March 22] the incident is to be formally declared as moving out of the ‘response’ phase and into the recovery phase,” Mr Ferguson said on Wednesday afternoon as final organisational touches were taking place inside the civic centre auditorium.
He said the evacuation centre at the Bega Showground would begin packing up over the next couple of days and emergency services handing over coordination of the efforts to Mr Ferguson and his team from the Office of Emergency Management.
“The priority is getting those people who have homes to go back to, back in their homes.
“It’s about their immediate needs like food, shelter and accommodation.”
Mr Ferguson said one area of focus is on those who may have “fallen through the cracks” if they had been looking after themselves the last few days and then return to find their home uninhabitable.
“That’s what the recovery team is here for.”
The next step would be debris removal and making sure the clean-up efforts runs “efficiently, quickly and cost-effectively”.
Spraying of asbestos bonding agent has already begun on sites identified by impact assessment team members and industrial hygienists. This will seal any asbestos material that may have become friable in the fire’s heat, which then has the potential to contaminate ground soil or become airborne if disturbed further.
Mr Ferguson said any site that had been identified as containing asbestos has had temporary construction fencing erected around it.
“We stridently warn people not to walk into these areas,” he said.
Removal, transport, treatment and disposal of all debris, contaminated or otherwise, will be conducted to strict current safety guidelines, Mr Ferguson said.
Further information on services provided and community updates on the recovery process will be published in local media and on the OEM website, emergency.nsw.gov.au