Shoreham Resilience Network

‍By John Matthews, SRN convenor

‍Resilience networks bring locals together to prepare for and to recover from a range of disasters including bushfires, storms and service disruptions.  In some communities this could extend to drowning incidents and even pandemics.

‍As part of this initiative, the Shoreham Resilience Network (SRN) seeks to improve the resilience of our Shoreham Community before and after emergency events.  Actions during emergency events are handled by the emergency services such as the CFA and the SES.

‍We have nearly 200 people who have joined and there are currently 12 neighbourhood groups.  Some are small – covering a street or court and some are quite large, such as the Tucks Road Gang which was already active.

‍Last summer we saw some good examples of the network in use, including a particularly smoky day where there was community concern that the smoke might be a local fire.  One resident who had clear sight to the west was able to confirm the smoke was coming from the west coast fires rather than Flinders!

‍The formation of small neighbour groups has already been a catalyst for better communication on neighbourhood issues, as well as a good reason to get together for a meet and greet.

‍Our current focus is on establishing five small groups of about 15-20 properties along Marine Parade and its adjacent roads.  We hope to include everyone who has been part of the longstanding fireguard group and to bring in people from even more properties in that area. 

‍Other groups across Shoreham will be established when we find more volunteers willing to be co-ordinators. The role doesn’t take much time and gives you a good reason to chat with your neighbours!

‍Please email shorehamresiliencenetwork@gmail.com if you would like to get involved or if you would like to know more about it. 

We also want to prepare a Local Emergency Action Plan ahead of the 26/27 summer and are seeking help from the Council resilience team and the CFA to start the process, and hope to gather ideas and input from the community.