Rodney Stevens
In a community first for the Clarence Valley, ICOPE – Iluka Community Organisation Planning for Emergencies has been approved to run a Community Managed Evacuation Centre in the event of wild weather or disasters isolating locals.
ICOPE President Cheryl Dimmock said the group had been working with the Clarence Valley Local Emergency Management Committee LEMC since October 2022 to have a Community Managed Evacuation Centre CMEC in Iluka, which would take in residents from Woody Head, The Freshwater, and if access is available, Woombah.
Ms Dimmock said the group was motivated to act to establish the CMEC by the predicted increase in wild weather induced by climate change and the fact Iluka can be isolated for several days in times of flood.
“We had to put an action plan together to present to the LEMC and we’ve had it approved that we could have a Community Managed Evacuation Centre CMEC,” she said.
“ICOPE will be allowed to run the CMEC if it is activated by the Local Emergency Operations Controller (high ranking local police officer).
“The CMEC would be at the Iluka Community Hall in Spencer Street, in the event that it was safe to evacuate to the community hall.
“The reason why we have been so proactive in doing this is because we get cut off, there is only one road in and one road out, we get cut off for days, and we don’t want to see the community in a situation like what has happened in Lismore.”
In addition to the CMEC, Ms Dimmock said ICOPE plans to transform the Iluka Community Hall over the next year.
“We are hoping to work with council to get grants and make improvements to the hall and we’re hoping to have Iluka Community Hall as a hub where the community can actually come…say on a Saturday morning where they can come and have cuppa and a chat about disaster preparedness and community events,” she said.
“We want to encourage the community to prepare for disasters, we don’t want it to be scary, but we want them to prepare and be ready in the event that something happens, that they will know what to do, where to go, and the communication they receive comes from one central place, so they are getting information that is current and from a reliable source.”
The good news doesn’t stop there, Ms Dimmock said, after ICOPE secured a substantial grant for Fields of Friends Iluka Village Community Parties from the Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal and the Yulgilbar Foundation.
“We will be having three community parties, totally free to the community, and they will all be a little bit different as one may be for the older population which might be a sit-down lunch and some music,” she said.
“All the parties will have music, and if it’s a family party there will be face painting and balloons and just a fun time.
“It’s about rebuilding community capacity and also community connectedness.”
On top of the grant for the community parties, Ms Dimmock said ICOPE were notified last week they were successful in securing a grant to produce an informative and interactive website from the National Australia Bank.
“It is for us to produce a website which will have information about what to do in an emergency, how you can prepare your home to prevent disasters from happening, emergency numbers to call, and in the event that something happened how we restore Iluka,” she said.
“In that grant we have also received money to produce either a booklet or magnets that can be handed out to residents in Iluka which will have mainly information about all of the different types of disasters or emergencies Iluka could be subjected to, plus what to do in the event that’s happening.”
ICOPE meets every second Wednesday of the month at Iluka Community Hall at 10am.
They can be contacted via email icope2466@gmail.com