New officer to keep communication open

MACKAY Regional Council has employed a community resilience officer to help aged care facilities and rural communities prepare for natural disasters.

MACKAY Regional Council has employed a community resilience officer to help aged care facilities and rural communities prepare for natural disasters.

The officer will also focus on improving the lines of communication between the council and community groups during times of disaster.

State Government disaster money has been used to employ the resilience officer, who has been working in the community for the past four weeks.

Mackay Regional Council director of engineering services Stuart Holley said the officer would be a great asset to council, particularly in times of disaster.

"That officer will be working with the community over the next two years to... help improve their preparedness and the communications associated with disaster events to make sure over the longer term our community is better placed to handle disasters," Mr Holley said.

"This officer will be working specifically with groups like our aged care groups, with our rural communities and some of our outer lying communities to see what we can do to improve our communication links.

"It (communication) is always something we can improve on."

Mr Holley said the community resilience officer would work with aged care facilities around the region to ensure their disaster plans would actually work in the event of a disaster.

He said the officer would also work with representatives from remote communities like Eungella, which were at risk of being cut off during times of disaster.

"We want to make sure we have the opportunity to communicate with those groups so we can then respond to their needs very quickly," he said.

Mr Holley said the officer had been employed for the past four weeks and had already started to work with aged care providers in preparation for the wet season, which can bring floods and cyclones to the region.

Originally published as New officer to keep communication open