Black Summer in the Shoalhaven, NSW: what was it like and what could we do better? A resident’s perspective

Debbie Killian

doi:10.1071/phrp3042028

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Black Summer in the Shoalhaven, NSW: what was it like and what could we do better? A resident’s perspective

Debbie Killian ^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Resident, Fishermans Paradise, NSW, Australia

^* Correspondence to: debbie.killian@icloud.com

Public Health Research and Practice 30, e3042028 https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp3042028

Published: 9 December 2020

Abstract

In this perspective paper, I describe the terror of being trapped in an isolated village on the New South Wales (NSW) South Coast as a catastrophic bushfire approached. In the aftermath of the 2019–20 ‘black summer’, I reflect on factors that could have helped reduce the trauma and stress experienced by residents, both during and in the wake of the bushfire event. Education, community planning and preparedness for a situation where modern communication methods fail are key factors to consider.

2020 © Killian et al. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence, which allows others to redistribute, adapt and share this work non-commercially provided they attribute the work and any adapted version of it is distributed under the same Creative Commons licence terms.