A Victorian Emergency Management Briefing for Consular Corps was held this morning (Friday, 29/11/2013 from 10 am till 11.50 am) at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Victoria State Office. Around 20 members from the Consular Corps including the Consul General of Malaysia attended the briefing. The main purpose of the said briefing, which was given by senior members of the Victorian Emergency Services, was to inform members of the Consular Corps the possibility of bush fires as well as heat waves happening in Victoria. These risks are particularly high during the summer times from mid-January till mid February as evident in 2009 where the biggest disaster of bush fires in Victoria known as Black Saturday claimed the lives of more than 170 people, and the loss of houses and properties estimated at AUD 4.5 billion.
Mr Mark Duckworth of the Department of Premier and Cabinet; Mr Craig Lapsley, Fire Service Commissioner; Superintendent Matthew Ryan, State Emergency Response Officer of the Victorian Police; and Ms Carmel Flynn, Director Health and Human Service Emergency Management of the Department of Health gave their briefs. Mr John Richardson, Director of the Victorian State Office of DFAT gave a welcoming remark of the importance of this briefing to enable members of the Consular Corps to convey to their respective communities the need to be alert to the oncoming disasters as well as things to do to overcome the hazards. Dato’ Dr Rameez during the Q&A session requested the assistance of the Victorian and the Australian authorities to assist the Consular Corps in releasing pertinent information on their respective citizens such as their current addresses in Victoria (Database can be easily accessed from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Melbourne).
