Chris Blake will begin his role as a Tumbarumba-based Community Project Officer aiming to enhance the Snowy Valley’s resilience to disasters such as the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires on Monday.
This project officer role is funded by the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLERF) and is under the auspices of the University of NSW Sydney.
In his role, Mr Blake aims to enhance the resilience of small towns, including Tumbarumba, Tooma, Jingellic, Batlow, and Adelong, to fires, floods and other emergencies by supporting measures identified, developed and enacted by community members, CSOs, businesses and local councils. Areas of focus are enhancing disaster recovery, preparedness, mitigation and prevention.
The role will report to Professor David Sanderson of UNSW Sydney with day-to-day coordination with Snowy Valleys Council.
Mr Blake, a Tumbarumba resident, was due to start the job on Monday this week, but Covid-19 intervened.
“David (Sanderson) was coming down with a couple of his people to give a better oversight about the project, but they are in a lockdown area and they have been delayed,” he said.
Mr Blake has lived in Tumbarumba for 14 years, and with his experience he is ideally suited to the role.
“I worked for Tumbarumba Council for five years up until the amalgamation and after that I was the Regional Manager for Country Hope, a welfare organisation which looks after kids with cancer,” he said.
His work covered a large area which included Albury and Griffith, and it was challenging but rewarding.
“It was a real experience,” he said.
“I really enjoyed working for Country Hope and I continue to support them wherever I can. They are a great organisation.”
After working for Country Hope Mr Blake worked for Snowy Valleys Council, in economic development and social welfare work, and this Project Officer job gave him the opportunity to get back into this.
“This position suited me really nicely,” he said.
“It’s a real challenge and it’s something that’s badly need in the region.”
He will work closely with the council’s Bushfire Recovery Team, Anglicare and Red Cross to build grass roots, local preparedness, response and recovery plans with communities across the Snowy Valleys region.
Developing practical, community-owned measures will be the central focus and will include plans such as risk assessments, awareness-raising, participatory ‘action-planning’ workshops, scenario planning and business continuity planning.
Mr Blake was working with Council when the Black Summer fires hit the Snowy Valleys region.
“I was involved in work getting welfare teams into the towns after the fires,” he said.
