Brisbane Floods

If only the world was like Australia. This week in Brisbane like in other parts of Queensland and Australia there has been a flood disaster. Reaching for hyperbole, the flooding was reported as the greatest flood in Australian history by ABC correspondent Paul Lockyer and the largest ever disaster in the state of Queensland by the premier Anna Bligh. Coverage of the event was extensive. ABC 24 as did Channel Seven covered the disaster exclusively for four days or more. Legions of reporters brought us individual tragedies from every angle. The response of the public like in all Australian disasters was incredible. Money flowed and more importantly Aussies got off their bottoms and actually helped to put things back the way they were or at least to the point where the most affected could start to manage on their own. People came with gumboots and shovels to strangers houses and started raking muck.

The constant and dramatic coverage left anyone who lives here with the impression that this was clearly the worst thing that was happening in the world. Yet whilst this was happening in Queensland, thirty two people were killed and three hundred thousand displaced by flooding in Sri Lanka and six hundred died in Brazil. In total so far in Queensland thirty have died and two hundred thousand been affected. Those affected in Sri Lanka and Brazil are the poorest of the poor and arguably have lost far more and have far less hope for the future than citizens of Australia.

My points are these: The media always highlights items of local interest because it knows its viewers are fundamentally more interested in local events than in what is happening to culturally different people far away. That is the nature of the media as well as the viewers and the beast cannot change its stripes.

Secondly, Aussies along with Americans are some of the most practical people in crises I can think of. They wade (pun intended) in to problems with their shirt sleeves rolled up, and a wealth of experience and knowledge of Australian made conditions. This can be attributed to a history of having to solve problems in adverse conditions with little resources or help. Migrants from other countries who have come to Australia more recently than descendants of the settlers also become infused with this frontier spirit.

If only the people of the world were more Australian. If Australia was the world and Sri Lanka and Rio were towns in it, Aussies would be running to help. Services like electricity, phone lines and plumbing would be quickly getting repaired. The homeless would be well fed and housed in emergency centres.

The best example of Aussie determination to put things right after you’ve just been flooded out, burned out or crushed by a tree are the State Emergency Services (the SES). These are some of the most respected people in the community more so than politicians, lawyers, maybe even medical professionals. Why? Because they are the best of the community. The SES are all volunteers, men and women with “real” jobs.

I personally have needed the SES on two occasions in the past two years and not for frivolous reasons either. The first time, I was living in Ferny Hills in the path of an incredibly destructive storm that left the suburb of The Gap a disaster zone. We had no power until it was restored by the SES in driving rain at two a.m. whilst we slept. More recently at the start of the Brisbane floods, a nearby tree about eight metres tall weakened by the constant rain fell on our roof. Two SES crews - ten people from all walks of life, spent three hours in the night again in constant rain first removing the tree and then placing a tarpaulin over the damaged leaking roof section.

Unfortunately, the world is not Australia. The poor of Brazil and Sri Lanka will not see their richer neighbours rushing to help them in the uniforms of the SES. When they are not gripped by fire or flood, Australians see natural disasters in other countries and want to help, the same as they do in their own backyard but can only direct funds to organizations that may or may not use the money wisely.