Resilient Lismore are coordinating a Door-Knock Appeal this week to ask, “How are we going, and how prepared are we for another flood event?”

A number of support organisations will be surveying residents currently living in flood-affected areas from the 2022 floods. 

Katherine De Silva from Resilient Lismore says this is a critical initiative to understand the state of housing, hear recovery stories, and identify ongoing support needs.

“Your story is important. If you live in the flood zone, you may hear a knock on your door in July. We encourage you to participate in the survey. This is also a chance for you to let us know if you require additional support.

“We want to understand the state of housing, hear recovery stories, and identify ongoing support needs. The recovery process is far from complete and too many people are still struggling today.”

Resilient Lismore is working closely with several organisations, including Red Cross, Uniting and Social Futures, to gather valuable information directly from people with lived experience. Interviewers will be in either Resilient Lismore or Red Cross Hi-Vis vests or RFS uniforms. 

“Our aim is to check in on every home in the Lismore city flood zone, where the water reached a level of more than 14.2 m and engage with the residents to gather vital information.

“The survey will be available online for people living in other flood-affected areas in the Northern Rivers from tomorrow (Monday, 15th July) until Tuesday, 6th August 2024 at this link. The online survey is only accessible for two weeks.

(Or you can scan this QR code)

The team of interviewers may not catch you when you are home, but that does not mean you lose the chance to tell your story. 

“We’re aiming to return to homes with no one there at a different day and time but will also leave a flyer in the letterbox with the link to the online survey or alternatively an invitation to come to the Resilient Lismore Hub in Keen Street to do the survey with one of our intake team.”

The responses will enable us to inform all levels of government how to be better prepared for recovery and disaster management. Information collected will be anonymous in the survey. 

“We will analyse the data, compare it with the results of last year's findings, and a report will be shared with the community, especially community-led recovery organisations and all levels of government to advocate for improvements in the disaster recovery and preparedness management.”

The door-knock survey starts tomorrow and runs until July 27th July from 10am-12pm and 2-4pm Monday to Friday and Saturdays 10am-2pm.