Bandon - The cleanup continues

Thankfully, at the time of writing this, the dreaded repeat of last Thursday's flooding seems a little more distant from becoming a reality .... I just hope it doesn't happen!

Despite all the heartache, it was great to see so many volunteers still helping to make a difference to so many people who live in the town and who have businesses in Bandon. The skip-hire businesses have never busier as have the various insurance assessors.

Please find below some initial thoughts on making sure that this does not happen again:

Pulling together – patience – co-ordinating public help & community effort

Emergency plans
Local emergency plans – Is there one? Who oversees it, co-ordinates and delegates? If there is one – is it public knowledge?
Centre for emergency services – Co-ordination – A designated office in a set location with basic essential services on site.
Create the position of a local Director of Emergency Services
To work in conjunction with and under the guidance of:
National emergency coordination centre
Director of emergency services
To have an agreed format to decide and delegate roles in case of emergency amongst local stakeholders. (Gardai MUST be involved in the process)
Media officer to co-ordinate any info in the public interest

Use of Groups
Network of organisations who may help
Co-ordinated network of local volunteers
One local based group (with local knowledge) to co-ordinate all efforts
Use of army, FCA and Civil Defence

Learning from this event:
Early warning system
Temporary flood barriers
EU and state funding for the above

Communication
Mobile emergency mobile number
Telecommunications – Local set of c.8 walkie-talkies.

Essential Local Activities
Clean drinking water
Power
People displaced – Co-ordinating of a list of names, where they have moved from and moved to.
Public health notices – Boiling water – Spraying disinfectant – Tetanus injection – Setting of poison for rats & mice
Delivery of water to elderly
Ensuring those living alone have been visited

It is now more than ever that our public representatives must put aside their differences and work together to ensure that people can get back to a normal life as soon as possible. We need support through finance, advice to set in mtion a system that will help the town the next time such an event lilke this occurs again.