Disaster Response and Recovery: Recommendations for Bushfire Victims in Melbourne

DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY 1
Disaster Response and Recovery
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DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY 2
Summary
Bushfires such as the Black Saturday that claimed more lives than any other fire
catastrophe recorded in the history of Victoria continue being a nightmare not only for the
country but also for the citizens. It is for such reasons that disaster management approach is
adopted to help curb the extent of such risks occurring. As such a disaster response and recovery
plan is crucial to help assess the damage caused and the interventions used to help families of
victims. Evaluating the interventions is essential to help determine whether the interventions
were effective. Evacuating and reconstructing the houses of the victims is crucial as some of the
responses to the bushfires in Melbourne. Some of the immediate responses include providing
temporary shelter and food for the families of the bushfire catastrophe. Also, medical assistance
is provided to those injured through burns, and in this case, the concept of mass casualty incident
comes handy.
Introduction
With more than 18 homes and 40 sheds being destroyed in the recent Victoria’s worst
fires even reported which ripped the state’s South West during the weekend leaving houses,
property and livestock destroyed is a clear indication of how Melbourne is prone to fire hazards.
The bushfires happened under extreme weather conditions that led to Australia recording the
highest number in the loss of lives from bushfires with more than 180 fatalities and 400 injured.
There were more than 400 different fires reported and it after and during the aftermath that the
day became known as the Black Saturday.
The purpose of this report is to provide recommendations on how to facilitate the
recovery of victims involved in the bushfires. The communities affected should be trained in
how to rescue people trapped in houses following the outbreak of such fires. This should be

DISASTER RESPONSE AND RECOVERY 3
accompanied by giving people on such communities the resuscitation skills to be used to help
those already affected by smoke. Fire assembly zones should also be established where people
assemble and take headcounts to ascertain missing persons that need to be rescued before it is too
late.
Background
However, warnings entailing watch and act are still useful in regions prone to grass fires
such as Terang, Garvoc and near Gazette and the firefighters have been able to combat the
flames due to favorable conditions during the night. The watch and act warning that entailed a
grass fire at Camperdown were downgraded to a message of advice following containment of the
fire. More than 200 fire crew remain on the fire scenes as the blazes burn within containment
zones. The fires in Melbourne according to authorities believe were as a result of lightning
strikes during the night and saw more than 14,000 hectares consumed. Residents of places such
as Terang thought to be one of the worst-hit regions have reported that most of these fires arrive
fast even before warning flaming up to more than seven meters in height.
The process of Melbourne community recovering from the bushfires can be a
sophisticated and a lengthy procedure where different communities have different rates of
recovery. The recovery component of the comprehensive mechanism for the management of
disaster such as prevention, preparedness and recovery can be deemed as the most sophisticated.
The best results are achieved be facilitating that recovery interventions are in concession with
community need and are informed by the affected community. As such this commands
collaborative, adaptable and a coordinated approach where the task for managing disaster
recovery is shared among all stakeholders of the community entailing families, businesses and all
levels of state.

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The concept of mass casualty incident arises when the medical wants of many victims
such as from those of Melbourne bush fire outweigh the medical resources available. Such
events span from car crashes to large-scale calamities such as the Melbourne bushfires where
many get injured. It is because of resource constraints during an MCI that medical practitioners
tasked with providing health care should change their approach from giving maximum care for
one victim to delivering the optimum attention for a large multitude involved in the catastrophe.
Thus, systems of mass casualty triage exist for purposes of helping providers medical care in
prioritizing MCI patients to be treated and get transported such that the limited resources can be
utilized appropriately (Lerner, et al., 2015). Accurate triaging of MCI victims can help improve
survival and results.
Many works of literature address the responses of the health system to mass burn
catastrophes that arise from wildfires. A good illustration is the Black Saturday catastrophe in
that occurred in the state of Victoria. The disaster is the worst recorded in the state of Victoria
and one of the worst in the world’s history as it claimed more than 170 lives and cost AUD 4
billion.
Injuries
In the case of bushfire such as the Black Saturday, more than 400 people got injured. As
a consequence of the speed and intensity of the fires, many casualties of bushfires succumbed to
death or survived with minor injuries. Fewer major burns were reported compared to other
bushfires, for instance, the Ash Wednesday. Some of the individuals that were subjected to
medical treatment in hospitals,20 had severe burns, and more than 350 had minor burns and
other injuries associated with bushfire incidences. Disaster plans that were nationwide and state-
oriented were affected across Australia. More than twenty patients that had severe burns were