TO facilitate a coordinated approach to community recovery, Cairns Local Disaster Committee recently stood up four recovery subcommittees covering economic, environment, human and social and infrastructure.
This is the first time all four subcommittees have been activated at the same time, a testament to the impact left by tropical cyclone Jasper.
The Economic Recovery Sub-Committee (ERS-C) met for the first-time last week and faces the task of restoring tourism and economic activity to normal levels.
Chair of the Recovery Committee Councillor Rhonda Coghlan said these committees will promote a coordinated approach to recovery.
“Recovery from a significant event such as this requires a collaborative approach, acknowledging the need for economic resilience, as well as supporting the wellbeing and health of the community,” she said.
“With many of the severely affected areas in Cairns located in the northern beaches, I have invited the Member for Barron Craig Crawford to be a part of the local Recovery Group Team.
“This will ensure strong collaboration to achieve the best results for the community.”
Cr Coghlan said the flooding event had already had a significant impact on the region’s businesses.
“We understand that the tourism and hospitality industry estimates about 1600 jobs and $300 million in revenue has been lost in the region through lost bookings and cancellations,” she said.
“We know that the tourism and hospitality industry employ about one in five people in the region’s workforce, and we have businesses who have not traded since mid-December.
“But it’s not just about tourism. The aim of the Economic Recovery Sub-Committee is to develop an economic recovery plan to ensure all of our business sectors are supported and can bounce back from the impacts of Tropical Cyclone Jasper.”
Cr Coghlan said the first committee meeting revealed that before long-term recovery is an option, existing grant funding packages need to be made available to all businesses and tourists need to know that the region is open for business.
She also said responding to the health and wellbeing of the community was equally important.
“The Human and Social Recovery Sub-Committee (HSRC) brings together the regions key government agencies and not-for-profit organisations from the social services sector with a focus on supporting peoples mental and physical wellbeing as well as strengthening community social resilience,” Cr Coghlan said.
“We know that the trauma from events of this scale can have far reaching and lasting impacts so ensuring that the community has access to wellbeing support is just as important as having food to eat, a roof over your head and power to homes.”
Visit the Cairns Disaster Dashboard for more information recovery and other assistance available.
Keep up with the latest news in Cairns and the Far North, and check out some of our top stories this week: Land donation to boost housing and Arts and culture networking.
