Extreme weather was on the agenda last week at the ‘Liveable and resilient homes’ event in Echuca, the second evening of its kind in the Let’s talk about BIG weather series.
Hosted by Make A Change Australia on Wednesday, July 17, at The Mill, the event brought together local experts and community members, raising awareness about the impact of severe weather such as floods, fires and drought on the region, while discussing ways to improve the resilience of homes in the face of such events.
Guest speakers included Lisa Merkesteyn from Castlemaine Institute, who highlighted the fact that half of all homes built before 1991 are not up to modern standards, while also suggesting small improvements, such as gap filling, that can have great effect.
SES Community Resilience co-ordinator Layton Miller urged participants to assess their preparedness for emergencies, noting many were not fully prepared in case of an extreme event, with apps such as the Vic Emergency and Emergency Plan apps a vital tool in being ready.
Participants also discussed ideas to improve the resilience of their own homes, which included creating home energy plans and reducing reliance on wood fires, downloading emergency management apps and finishing their emergency plans, and advocating for systems change and access to community solar farms.
The following evening, Thursday, July 18, saw the third event in the series, ‘Living With Water — Too little? Too much? How can we adapt’, bring community members in Boort together to talk through adapting to a changing climate and the varying impacts of rainfall, droughts and floods.
Local farmer Jo Bear shared her experience of farming through both drought and flood, while Rebecca Mitchell from Agriculture Victoria discussed the variability of the annual rainfall in the region and the impact on soil health.
The events were deemed a success, with Campaspe Shire Council inviting the team at Make A Change to return and do more work in the area, while there was significant interest in forming a sustainability group in Echuca following the session.
There are more sessions planned in the future, with Rochester set to host a ‘Women Strengthening Towns’ event on August 9, which will celebrate all women who contribute to making towns and communities resilient and strong.