The day starts at just after 6am. Our evacuation centre manager calls to say the Federal Police are crawling all over the place as the Governor-General may pay a visit today. The public sees maybe thirty seconds of footage of a dignitary's visit on TV, and perhaps doesn't even notice it has happened, but on the ground this … Continue reading the emerald city 3

Up at 5 o'clock in the morning: I didn't mean to, but the sun shone in and woke me. An hour of work to get ahead of the posse, then showered, packed, in a cab to the airport to catch a couple of teleconferences before boarding. By half past ten I feel as if I … Continue reading the emerald city 2

So. Emerald. What can Google, Wikipedia and the Red Cross situation reports tell me about my destination? Emerald is a fairly large country town of around 11,000 people, that was established in 1879 as a base for the building of Queensland’s western railway. The town is named after 'Emerald Downs Hill', and not an emerald mine. … Continue reading the emerald city

Another early start - a meeting with Shanna, our Red Cross Commander, over breakfast. It's the only time we can find for me to feed back some of my observations in my monitoring and evaluation role. Back at the EOC, things are buzzing. After such a busy day yesterday, the tension is imperceptibly higher. Lots to do, … Continue reading Queensland floods – day nine