Vic: Challenge begins to find homes for victims

AAP General News (Australia)
02-17-2009
Vic: Challenge begins to find homes for victims

By Greg Roberts

MELBOURNE, Feb 17 AAP - The massive task of finding accommodation for 7,000 people
who lost their homes in Victoria's bushfires on February 7 begins this week at a two-day
meeting.

The accommodation crisis was "the number one issue at the moment" in the recovery from
Australia's worst peacetime disaster that has cost at least 189 lives.

The Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority, the Department of Human Services
(DHS) and other agencies are holding the two-day planning exercise on Wednesday and Thursday.

Some people would be displaced for a "significant amount of time", DHS director of
emergency management Craig Lapsley told reporters.

"We've now got more than 1,800 houses burnt or significantly impacted ... 1,800 households
out there need to be accommodated somewhere else," he said.

"Some are still living in relief centres, we're looking at how we best relocate those
into other accommodation ... it could be emergency to temporary to something more permanent.

"It's very important to understand the connection for children to their educational
facilities, where people earn money and social connections.

"Some people find it difficult to move away from a community they have been part of,
but it may be a necessary step for rebuilding."

Mr Lapsley said the agencies would be better placed after the meeting to understand
how housing people would work in the medium to long term.

"It's probably the number one issue at the moment, it needs a lot of thinking, not
one single solution," he said.

The "whole of Victoria was hurting" and now was the time to work together, emergency
services commissioner Bruce Esplin said.

"The whole of Victoria can help in ensuring people have a strong way forward through
a very difficult point in time," he told reporters.

So far 1,834 homes have been destroyed, displacing 7,000 individuals, according to
the Red Cross statistics.

While firefighters are getting on top of the blazes still burning out of control it
should be remembered the bushfire season was not over, Country Fire Authority (CFA) director
of community safety Lisa Sturzenegger said.

"There's at least another month of summer to come and it's not too late for communities
to make their plans because having a plan can save lives," she told reporters.

"Fire agencies are scheduling fire ready Victoria meetings across the state."

There are more than 4,500 firefighters still either fighting blazes or containing them
backed by more than 500 army personnel.

AAP gr/gfr/maur/apm

KEYWORD: BUSHFIRES VIC HOMES

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