Nationals call for bushfire evacuation database
Nationals call for bushfire evacuation database
15 November 2009
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia– The Victorian National Party is calling for a register to be set up for people who would find it difficult to evacuate during a bushfire.
The leader, Peter Ryan, says a database needs to be created with the names of people who do not have their own cars.
He says the Victorian Government is ignoring the plight of the vulnerable by insisting the onus is on the individual to take care of themselves in an emergency.
“The real worry is that there are many members of our community who are aged, who are infirm, who simply do not have assistance otherwise available to them, there is no particular neighbour able to help, let alone a member of the family,” he said.
“And the Government, therefore, I think has an obligation to make sure that these people are catered for.”
Mr Ryan says the register would also need to be easily accessed by the emergency services, as local councils will not be directly involved in evacuations.
“We need to have, I believe, a central register of these folk so that it can be checked as to whether they have evacuated in times when we have the code red days,” he said.
“There is no point having these systems of warning if those who are the most vulnerable and do not have their own means of transport are not going to be able to escape.”
