A HEATWAVE is Whittlesea’s greatest risk to human life, say disaster management experts.
Whittlesea council’s relief and recovery co-ordinator, Andrew Tierney, told a council-run workshop on community vulnerability and resilience that residents should take heat-related illnesses seriously.
‘‘Heatwave is far and away our greatest risk,’’ he said.
‘‘People don’t take it seriously; they think fire is more dangerous. But the five-day heatwave in 2009 killed 374 people statewide, far more than the Black Saturday fires.’’
Mr Tierney said geospatial mapping, which applies statistical analysis and other techniques to geographic data, had shown that Lalor and Thomastown were ‘‘heat sinks’’.
‘‘We had a wave of migrants who came out and concreted everything,’’ he told the workshop, which attracted about 50 people from 20 organisations, including hospitals, universities and community groups.
Those areas were not necessarily hotter during the day but did not cool down at night as much as leafier areas did.
Mr Tierney said many people living in the heat sinks were ‘‘now over 65 and don’t speak English. They are at particular risk’’.
He said that during a heatwave, it was important to drink lots of water, stay indoors or in shade, reduce physical activity and never leave anyone in a closed car.
In any disaster, the best protection you could have were friends and family, he said.
‘‘The number one lesson from all those attending [the workshop] is that people who are socially connected with friends and family and ties to the community are better able to cope with emergency and the after-effects,’’ he said.
‘‘If you don’t have a friend or neighbour to turn to, you are much more vulnerable.’’
