After the storm: The long road to recovery
Lismore in the Northern Rivers of NSW is one of those communities that has had their fair share of devastation caused by extreme weather; two serious floods and a tropical cyclone.
In Australia when a natural disaster strikes so does the focus of our nation’s media. The interest is often fleeting and short-lived, and as the news cycle moves on, residents continue to reel from the devastation and face the long road to recovery.
Lismore in the Northern Rivers of NSW is one of those communities that has had their fair share of devastation caused by extreme weather; two serious floods and a tropical cyclone.
Chaplains from the NSW/ACT Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network (DRCN) have been on the ground to support residents through all of these events: to prepare, to respond, and to recover long after the debris had been cleared away.
Part of this is assistance is providing critical funding to individuals and small businesses.
“This year we’ve distributed100 $100 gift cards to individuals and local soup kitchens at recovery centres in Byron Bay, Ballina, Coraki and Kyogle,” said Rev. Mark Muss, Projects and Support Manager of the NSW/ACT DRCN.
“The point of these cash cards is to cut through the bureaucracy and get immediate support to people. Some people just fell through the cracks when it came to eligibility - like, for example, their house wasn’t technically damaged, so they didn’t qualify for assistance,”
“One case that stayed with me was a security guard working at one of the evacuation centres. I had a pastoral conversation with him when I visited. Because of the cyclone, he’d lost all of his casual work for ten days, and he’d only just moved back to the area. Financially, he was completely smashed - like so many other casual workers over that two-week period. He was very overwhelmed,”
Rev. Muss said that there a couple of streets in South Lismore where pretty much every single person had been impacted by the 2022 flood - and they were displaced again during the recent cyclone.
“Our Lead Chaplain has also been working closely with a local business where the woman who runs it was devastated financially by the flood, but she knows everyone in the local precinct. She’s been helping our chaplaincy team identify who the long-term residents are - like, 'that street, these people have lived here for years… but those three houses were recently bought by people from Sydney and weren’t affected by the floods’. What we’re trying to ensure is that the support we’re offering goes to the right people - not just handed out randomly,”
Rev. Muss said that many of these areas are also experiencing high levels of homelessness due to the impact of these disasters, and also because of the current housing crisis.
“There’s a very large number of homeless people in Ballina now—some displaced by the 2022 floods, and others forced out of places like the Gold Coast due to the housing crisis. It’s too expensive to live there, and not safe to be homeless, so some have been living in the bushes and around waterways in Ballina.
The DRCN also has a long-term team of ten volunteer chaplains permanently working with businesses across the Lismore CBD and South Lismore.
“Our Lismore CBD Lead Chaplain has been speaking to business people who haven’t drawn a wage in months, some for over two years. One woman told me she hadn’t been able to pay herself for two years and her husband just keeps the business afloat. Another hadn’t drawn a wage in three months, and another in six. When we turned up with gift cards, there were shopkeepers crying in relief. One said, 'I didn’t actually know how I was going to buy groceries.'
“With this gift card, we’re not just encouraging people to use it on essentials, we also want them to use it on things that bring joy; go out for a meal, get your hair cut, or take your partner to the movies. Those little moments of joy and dignity matter too."
About DRCN
The Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network (DRCN) is an ecumenical network of chaplains established to assist people in NSW who have been affected by disasters and major emergencies within their communities.
The network was established in 2009 by the Uniting Church (Synod of NSW and ACT) as a result of deliberations within the State Disaster Welfare Committee, which recognised the need for chaplaincy to complement the other welfare services within evacuation and recovery centres following major emergencies.
Since 2009 the DRCN has grown to a network of 400 trained disaster chaplains who are from 15 different faith groups and diverse backgrounds. With the increasing regularity of natural disasters our services are increasingly needed.
Lismore Recovery Centre Team 1 - Sharon Chapman, Marcia Pitt, and Graeme Paterson
Lismore Recovery Centre Team 3 - Christine Grant, Graeme Davis, Alan Shaw Sr and Dedith Moralde
Raewyn Elsegood, Danny Clark and Bridget Roberts