After A Disaster

Getting contact out to say I am OK is important for relatives and friends who will be worried. I keep charged back up batteries for the phone, torch and other devices.

After a major disaster, lots of people will come onto my property to do a range of jobs, like check I am OK, check the structural integrity of the house, to look for asbsestos or other tasks which are aimed at keeping the community safe.

I will keep a look out for advice to keep my horses safe e.g. I need to remember that floodwater is not freshwater, it's toxic! All wet feed has to be thrown out (not dried out), water troughs scrubbed and refilled.

After looking over my property, I went over to the neighbours and made sure they were OK.

Once the immediate house area and surrounds were checked, we went to look for missing horses and livestock as they may have wandered onto the road or become trapped in a creek.

I use my networks to see if other horse owners and their animals are OK.

We have a local community Facebook group we started, something like the Murray Bridge & Surrounds Bushfire Group for horse owners.

I have prepared myself for the fact that even though we may stay and defend for fire, flood or storm- the property may not be fit for keeping horses safely for quite some time.

I have already made the decision where to send horses outside of our geographic area while the property can recover, or have arranged for strong portable yards to be delivered at short notice.

Tree roots can burn for several weeks underground, I would like to avoid a horse putting a leg through to one of these. It will take quite some time to ensure that the paddocks are safe and the ground cool enough, or if flood waters have been through, to check for rubbish and wait for pooled dirty (toxic) water to disperse.