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Pom in Oz: Cyclone Seroja devastation whips up abundance of sharing

Derek GoforthMidwest Times
Cyclone damage at Kalbarri.
Camera IconCyclone damage at Kalbarri. Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West Australian

I am writing this latest piece while having stress kittens.

It’s 1pm on Sunday, April 11 and the strongest cyclone in decades is a few hours away from making landfall on the Mid West coast.

We have done everything we can — secured, tied down, removed, brought in — anything we can think of we have done. So why the stress and why the anxiety? Well part of it is justified — it’s the mind’s way of telling the body to stay on alert. Fight or flight instinct is hardwired into our nature.

But why is my stress growing even though there is nothing left for us to do?

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The answer is simple — Facebook and social media.

I am extremely grateful that I have a roof over my head and food in my pantry and that I didn’t lose anyone in this disaster. But me feeling grateful for my lot in life will not do anything for the people north of me. My gratitude won’t heal their pain in any way, shape or form.

So the scenario is this. You get a report, from let’s say ABC news, about the cyclone. I am sure you saw a few. Now the one report is valid, factual and perhaps informative. But what happens next? You see the same report from another dozen news outlets, not all mainstream but all reporting the same thing.

Yes, you know it’s the same information, but the stress gets compounded, amplified even.

Do you switch off social media? Well no, you don’t want to do that, you want to stay informed, you want to know if anything changes. As the cyclone gets closer, the reports increase and the sharing of the stories increase and so on and so on.

Cyclone damage at Kalbarri.
Camera IconCyclone damage at Kalbarri. Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West Australian

So yes I am just putting the radio on and turning my internet off.

So now this is written well after the cyclone has trailed its path of destruction through the Mid West, our neighbours in Kalbarri and Northampton are left devastated and most of the region is left without power for now four days. There is nothing positive to say about this experience.

Yes, it’s been different to be off screens for a few days, but come on — if you want that just turn them off any day of the week and play a board game, sit round the fire, talk to your family. We don’t need a disaster to disconnect from technology once and a while.

Yes I have seen a lot of sharing going on. My neighbour has brought round meat, we have shared a friend’s generator and we have donated eggs to a few people now. But this should really be (and for most it is) the attitude all year round shouldn’t it? Am I not my brother’s keeper after all?

I am extremely grateful that I have a roof over my head and food in my pantry and that I didn’t lose anyone in this disaster. But me feeling grateful for my lot in life will not do anything for the people north of me.

My gratitude won’t heal their pain in any way, shape or form. There are, after all, disasters happening all year round across the world. Just look at the people of Timor, Sudan and other disaster-ridden areas. I do feel grateful every day that I am not in their boat. But I also feel selfish and privileged at the same time.

I am also thankful for all the clean-up and repair work that has been done, But the flip side to this is the frustrations and our power system, and how it needs huge upgrades and improvements to work properly and to be able to deal with something like this more efficiently.

Perhaps there have been, not positives, but lessons learnt.

I am sure some of you will not agree with what I have said, perhaps you will say I am whinging. But, hey, I am a Pom after all!

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