WITH bushfire season still on everyone's minds, organisers of an Alpine Shire community newsletter, 'The Loop' are calling for more residents to register themselves to help bolster a local network which passes on key information to prepare for future emergencies.
'The Loop' is a fortnightly newsletter which provides an avenue of information between emergency management agencies such as the CFA, SES and Emergency Recovery Victoria with community members called 'connectors', who then pass the information on to their local networks to make sure everyone has the resources they need.
"The aim of 'The Loop' is to help build resilience and get residents of the Alpine Shire better prepared to act in emergency situations," moderator of 'The Loop', Jan Mock said.
"At the moment, we have approximately 130 connectors, who pass on information.
"After the 2020 fires, a Community Recovery Committee (CRC) was formed, who released a survey for community members and residents from the Alpine Shire to participate in.
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"The survey revealed people weren't aware of key information at important times and they didn't know where to look for guidance, or they were too flustered to follow a clear plan.
"So, the CRC then created 'The Loop'."
This newsletter is designed to amplify and simplify the delivery of available resources and information from government, emergency service and recovery support agencies.
"The issue wasn't a lack of information," chair of 'The Loop', Fiona Nicholls said.
"It was people's ability to connect with that information, at a time which suits them.
"'The Loop' website has short, sharp information with links to the relevant agencies.
"The newsletter doesn't recap past events, reporting on how many attendees were at this workshop or that meeting; it's more about notifying the community about upcoming workshops, information about future CFA events, reminders about planned burns and so on.
"We take the information from agencies and send it to all the community connectors who have their own network they're in regular contact with.
"Their 'network' may just be the people who live in their street, or a group they meet up with regularly; the point is to get the community to amplify the EXISTING information already available from emergency agencies.
"There will be recovery information posted on our website, when it's required.
"It's simple to access our website and sign up as another community connector.
"Connectors receive a link to the latest information posted once a fortnight."
For more information, visit: http://the-loop.com.au/
