New South Wales picks up the pieces after storms and flooding

Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has issued a statement following the recent storm damage and flooding in the Central Coast and Hunter regions of New South Wales. Extensive property damage and a significant number of fatalities occurred. As at 10:00am Tuesday June 12th, the State Emergency Services (SES) had received 13,808 requests for assistance. The majority of these came from the Hunter Region - Newcastle, Sydney Northern Region – Wyong and Gosford and Sydney Metropolitan areas.

John Howard’s statement reads:

“On behalf of the Government, I express my deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones in this terrible event.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the communities who have suffered and are continuing to feel the impact of this natural disaster.

“Given the devastation, I have authorised Commonwealth support in the form of cash payments to people who have suffered serious injury, or lost their principal place of residence or had that residence rendered uninhabitable for a period of 48 hours as a direct result of this disaster.

“This will be over and above the support being provided by the Australian Government under the long standing Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements. Through the NDRRA, the Commonwealth assists the states with the costs and resourcing of response and recovery operations in large scale disasters.

“The additional relief will amount to $1,000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child. People who are entitled to this additional assistance will now be able to apply to Centrelink on 180 2211.

“The recovery operation will take time and I am committed to working with the NSW Premier, Mr Morris Iemma, to support the ongoing relief effort. I spoke last night to Premier Iemma offering any additional practical Commonwealth assistance that might be needed.

“The rescue, recovery and relief operation so far has been exemplary and on behalf of the Government I extend my gratitude and thanks to all those involved in the response.

“The police, state emergency service personnel, rescue crews and all other people involved in the storm and flood response rightfully deserve our admiration and respect.”

For more information in disaster recovery operations related to this storm visit http://www.emergency.nsw.gov.au/content.php/207.html and http://www.ses.nsw.gov.au/

•Date: 12th June 2007 • Region: Australia •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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