So why all the fuss? If someone on the northside lost their house in an accidental fire, they would not get the level of support that the Duffy, Chapman and other residents who lost their houses. No government hand-outs for them. No special bushfire appeal or one-stop shop to fix all for them.
Besides, all but six of the destroyed houses and all but four of the damaged houses were insured. Most of the people lived in an affluent suburb with high incomes by Australian standards, all why the need for all this help months after the event? Isn’t it a bit overdone?
I put these questions to the manager of the ACT Bushfire Recovery Centre, Di Butcher.
“Yes, the loss is high for an individual who loses their house in a one-off fire. But if you look at a city which has got 500 people in the same situation plus all of the other people whose homes are damages you are looking at a city which could have huge problems for years to come. Unless we get those people up and well and moving you can imagine what would happen to Canberra. Four thousand people stayed at the evacuation centres – it is a lot of families it is a lot of schoolkids. It is a lot of people who may not be able to work if you look at stress and post-traumatic stress syndrome. . . . You are looking at an extremely vulnerable set of people long-term.”
In a single fire, neighbours around help a lot. But when 500 homes burn, the social fabric is burnt too.
“You have to try to replace that social fabric,” she said.
The was a huge public interest in getting the social fabric back. There was an investment in social capital. It was important to get those people back to where they were. Businesses had suffered, particularly at local shops.
“Some families lost a house and a business,” she said. “Some families lost two houses – parents and their adult children. If both lost houses it is very hard for them to offer support to each other.”
There were difficulties arising out of the extent of the fires. In a single fire, there was little impact on neighbours.
“But with the extent of the Canberra fires people who were left behind are just as distressed as the people who had to move,” she said. “They feel guilty because they survived or they think why they hell should I have to stay here when there is nothing else around me except a war zone, especially the elderly. They feel it when the children and noise and dogs are gone and no-one is checking on them.
“Then there is the uncertainty of who is rebuilding and what are they rebuilding. What sort of house? What sort of neighbours? What will my suburb look like? Why should they get a new house and I am not getting a new house? The Recovery Centre has helped because they come to functions we organise and touch base with neighbours who are living elsewhere to find out what is going on so they are not making decisions in a vacuum.”
There is still a lot of distress. Recently the Recovery Centre organised a $200,000 voucher scheme for winter clothes and blankets started by Target and doubled by the Chief Minister.
“When we handed out the vouchers, we were amazed at the level of distress still there. . . . It is not over. There is still a long way to go.”