By TANIA PHILLIPS
NINE community noticeboards have been installed around the Southern Downs to help ensure local people are prepared during an emergency.
Installed by the Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC), the noticeboards will give residents specific and general information about disasters throughout the year and during a weather event.
Disaster Management co-ordinator Mark Saunders said the purpose of the noticeboards was to enable all community members and visitors to the region to keep up to date with warnings and communication in relation to disaster situations, updates, training and assistance in the event of a disaster.
“Each of the signs has an assigned Local Control officer who ensures the information on the noticeboard is relevant and up-to-date,” Mr Saunders said.
“Outside of a disaster, the noticeboards can be used for general information and community groups to advertise local events and activities.
“When communities are isolated due to an event, these signs will act as an information point of truth direct from the local disaster co-ordination centre.
“We encourage residents to make themselves aware of the location of the noticeboards and become familiar in checking them for information during an event.”
Locations include: Maryvale: Mary Vale Road near the Rural Fire Brigade Shed, Mal Stacy Goomburra; outside the Goomburra Hall, Margaret Cairns Allora; PL Travers Park, Cr Glyn Rees Pratten, Pratten Park, Di Lawlor; Wallangarra: Next to the Driver Reviver, Brian Springborg Stanthorpe; Near the Visitor Information Centre, SDRC Stanthorpe: outside the SDRC admin building, SDRC Warwick: outside the SDRC admin building, SDRC.
Mr Saunders said the noticeboards, funded by state and federal governments, were erected in smaller communities on the Southern Downs, based on a prototype that was installed in Killarney in 2013.
“The locations were established through the community engagement process that followed the 2010-2011 flood events where the Community Recovery officer conducted a series of local forums in each of the communities across the Southern Downs,” he said.
