Online water warnings to focus on hotspots in bid to save lives
Holiday-makers in coastal hotspots will be bombarded with online water safety messages in a radical bid to avoid more tragic drowning deaths after a horror week.
VIC News
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Holiday-makers in coastal hotspots will be bombarded online with water safety messages in a radical bid to avoid more tragic drowning deaths after a horror week.
The Herald Sun can reveal authorities will use geo-targeting technology to ensure visitors at popular beaches, lakes and rivers are seeing warnings online and on social media, including popular Chinese platform Weibo.
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The Andrews Government will also announce on Saturday that beach safety advertisements and rip forecast information will appear online in other languages including Arabic, Hindi, Korean, Malay, Chinese and Vietnamese.
As Victoria continues to sizzle, beachgoers are flooding the state’s waters with authorities concerned many swimmers are getting caught out in unpredictable conditions and not understanding their skills. Four people drowned in Victoria this week.
In a further $1 million plan to prevent drownings, surfers and high school students will taught CPR skills, how to perform board rescues and how to apply basic first aid in the water.
A version of the safety program will also be taught to scuba divers.
Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said the community needed to be prepared and equipped with knowledge before heading into our waters.
“Every drowning death is one too many and we need the community to heed the water safety messages,” Ms Neville told the Herald Sun.
“This is why we are delivering expanded and more focused communication plan.”
“Since the drowning deaths last week, we have increased a number of our advertising campaigns and warning messages to focus on specific locations and communities.”
A father and son died on Christmas Eve at Phillip Island, while a 64-year-old diver drowned off the rocks at Cape Schanck on Christmas Day.
Harmanjot Singh Walia, 27, died on Boxing Day at MacKenzie Falls.
He had flown to Victoria from New Zealand with wife Kirtika to be with their closest friends.