207 residents will each receive a 1000 litre water tank
Rural Aid is trucking in 207 water tanks to Bega
Valley Shire residents to assist the community with their recovery from the
devastating bushfires that swept through the area on New Year’s Eve.
The 1000 litre Schutz IBC water tanks, funded from a News
Corporation donation to Rural Aid, will be delivered to the Cobargo Show
Grounds, on Thursday 21 May 2020, for distribution to 207 verified, aid
registered farmers and community members.
Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said we’re hopeful that this generous
donation will help make life a little
easier for families in the Cobargo region who lost so much to fire. We’re
also resoundingly grateful for the support of the Cobargo Bush Fire Relief Centre
who have helped make this logistically possible.
“The Bega Valley Shire, on the New South Wales
south coast, was one of the worst fire affected communities when fire swept
through and devastated the region in December 2019 and January 2020,” John
said.
“Our farmers and their communities are going through
challenging times. The community have been impacted by one of the longest
droughts in recent history, followed by fires that have devastated the land,
people, livestock and homes. Now they are dealing with the impact of current
restrictions during recovery as they attempt to rebuild.
“Many of the residents in the area, some over an hour away, are
making daily trips to the Cobargo Showgrounds to shower, obtain water from the
Council’s standpipes and buy bottled drinking water.
“With the weather growing colder as winter approaches, we’re
hopeful the 1000 litre water tanks will make life a little easier for these
communities. Having access to drinking water on their properties will facilitate
cooking, bathing or simply starting the day with a cuppa.
“We’re proud to be able to assist farmers and the Bega Valley
community in any way we can. Along the New South Wales south coast, we’ve also
been able to support farmers through the provision of hay, restocking and on
the ground counselling.”
Rural Aid’s continuing support
Just like any other business through this COVID period, the
Rural Aid team is pivoting and finding ways to navigate restrictions to continue
to deliver on the ground for farmers and rural communities.
“We’re obviously able to achieve this under slightly reduced
capacity, but thanks to our operations team, we’re continuing to deliver much
needed support,” John said.
“We’re recognising a greater need for our services than ever
before and have found unique ways to stay connected with rural communities via
our counsellors through phone calls and online webinars including our Community
Builders Webinars Series.
“Of course, our volunteers are currently sitting tight and we
hope that they will be back helping our farmers and rural communities over the
coming months.
“I would also like to take this moment to say thank you to
our supporters, many of whom have been impacted recently too, but who continue
to recognise the level of resilience and fortitude our farmers display.
“Whether through a simple act of kindness in writing a letter
of support to a farmer, purchasing Aussie produce or through a donation – we,
at Rural Aid, thank you and are grateful for your ongoing support.”
Cobargo Water Tank Delivery Information:
When: 7am Thursday 21
May 2020
Where: Cobargo
Showground, Bermagui Road, Cobargo NSW 2550
Media: 0447 116
757 | media@admin.media.ruralaid.org.au
Spokesperson: Rural Aid
CEO John Warlters | 0409 618 641
On
Site Contact: Rural Aid Business Development Manager – NSW Craig Marsh | 0427
976 294
About Rural Aid
Rural
Aid is one of Australia’s largest rural charities. Well known for the highly
successful ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign, the charity also provides financial
assistance, water and counselling to farmers in times of drought, flood or
fire. Other initiatives support its vision that farming and rural communities
are safeguarded to ensure their sustainability both during and after these
natural disasters. Visit www.ruralaid.org.au for
further information on these programs and other support for our rural
communities.
Visit www.ruralaid.org.au/snapshots for Rural
Aid’s latest assistance statistics.
Visit www.ruralaid.org.au/towns/webinars/
to be part of the Rural Aid Community Builders Webinars Series.
Follow
Rural Aid for updates on:
ENDS
Impact of NSW fires
Livestock loss across NSW as a result of the fires exceeded
13,000 with over 16,000 landholders estimated to have been impacted by the
fires. Southern NSW had the greatest losses with more than 12,000 head of
livestock dying as a result of the fires¹. As
of 28 January 2020, the fires in NSW had burnt 5.3 million hectares or 6.7% of
the State².
Bureau
of Meteorology
The Bureau of Meteorology noted in the
Events section of its Annual Climate
Statement 2019, published on
9 January 2020, that, ‘The extensive and long-lived fires appear to
be the largest in scale in the modern record in New South Wales, while the
total area burnt appears to be the largest in a single recorded fire season for
eastern Australia’³.
- Warmest year on record for Australia – mean
temperature 1.52 °C above average
- Warmest year on record for New South Wales and
Western Australia
- Annual total rainfall 40% below average with
much of Australia affected by drought
¹Sourced from NSW
Department of Primary Industries
²Sourced
from Parliament
of Australia Parliamentary Library
³Sourced
from Bureau of
Meteorology (BOM)