In 1939, Victoria had Black Friday. In the mid-eighties, it was Ash Wednesday. To that list we now add Scorched Saturday, February 7, 2009. Everyone in Victoria has been touched by it in some way. Friends, relatives, in at least one or more of the areas even now still affected.
I went out into the heat in my home suburb that Saturday afternoon, observing it was already around 45 degrees. At that stage, I hadn’t heard any of the news. But when I did, the first news report I heard was of the fires around Churchill, where my niece and her husband live.
When I rang them, the fire was about a kilometre away from their back fence. They were okay, but keeping an eye on the situation. I prayed a very quick prayer I call the Emergency Prayer, one part absolute humily, the other part absolute hutzpah. I don’t know whether God specifically answered that prayer, but when I next called my niece, the fire had veered off towards Traralgon South. But that meant others were then endangered.
I’ve only been on Twitter a matter of short weeks, and was intrigued by this idea of ‘citizen journalism.’ That sort of concept is in its infancy here in Australia, or was. Now it’s been quickly understood as a lot of people try to do their bit on the Twitter hashtags to pass on information and any snippet that might help.
My own meagre efforts have now reached their fourth day. I monitor things on #vicfires and #bushfires and try to retweet anything that’s only on one hashtag that needs to be known on the other. Where possible, I keep my ears tuned for more unique information and try to pass that on.
There have been some real heroes in the Victorian Twitterverse. @774melbourne, attached to our ABC broadcaster, has provided community service announcements and updates, and @cfa_updates has been giving us summaries of the actual CFA site’s advisories. Other individuals go by the nicks @stephenedgar and @strictly. On Monday, @strictly had to take a couple of breaks, especially one where she mentioned that, while one of her friends was safe, two were dead and another ten missing. She still came back to provide some of the best, unique updates she could.
On Monday, fires again threatened Churchill and, although I was able to contact my niece at one stage, there was a harrowing hour or two where I didn’t hear from her and couldn’t get anyone to provide up-to-the-minute information. My sister rang me, also very concerned, but a few minutes after that, I got through to my niece. They and their house were still safe, after the second near-miss.
I read some of the articles on the net yesterday from other countries. They contact a few of us to get our opinions on both the fire and the use of Twitter during the crisis. I’ve even left one comment myself to one such correspondent who’d been monitoring #bushfires and #vicfires. However, one article did rile me, as someone who’d ONLY been the first poster on #firecomments claimed credit for setting it up. He hadn’t been the one suggesting the need for it, however. In fact, that person hadn’t really said much the key hashtags. The reason for setting up #firecomments had been to keep #bushfires and #vicfires open for more necessary information, while providing a hashtag for those wanting to offer condolences. But I didn’t have time to really pull that person up on what he’d claimed. The situation even today (Tuesday) is far from over and the Victorian Twitterverse’s job is still only partly done.
There are communities still under threat. There are still families trying to contact loved ones and friends. There are still relief efforts and other things to do.
Most of us are trying to help in any small way we can. There are some small individuals, though, who aren’t. We hear reports some idiots try to loot homes in the affected areas. And there’s still some concern that some of the fires on Saturday were deliberately lit.
It’s our worst bushfire ever. The enormity of it is weighing on a few people, from what I’ve seen on the Twitter feeds I monitor. But while it’s still not over, we can’t afford to let it overwhelm us.
Scorched Saturday. And the work needed to recover from it is still only part done.
Like this:
Be the first to like this post.
,
Melbourne News
This entry was posted on February 10, 2009 at 8:39 am and is filed under Commentary, Melbourne News. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: Australian bushfires, bushfires, disaster, twitter
You can
comment below, or
link to this permanent URL from your own site.
Victoria Bushfires and The Twitter Community
In 1939, Victoria had Black Friday. In the mid-eighties, it was Ash Wednesday. To that list we now add Scorched Saturday, February 7, 2009. Everyone in Victoria has been touched by it in some way. Friends, relatives, in at least one or more of the areas even now still affected.
I went out into the heat in my home suburb that Saturday afternoon, observing it was already around 45 degrees. At that stage, I hadn’t heard any of the news. But when I did, the first news report I heard was of the fires around Churchill, where my niece and her husband live.
When I rang them, the fire was about a kilometre away from their back fence. They were okay, but keeping an eye on the situation. I prayed a very quick prayer I call the Emergency Prayer, one part absolute humily, the other part absolute hutzpah. I don’t know whether God specifically answered that prayer, but when I next called my niece, the fire had veered off towards Traralgon South. But that meant others were then endangered.
I’ve only been on Twitter a matter of short weeks, and was intrigued by this idea of ‘citizen journalism.’ That sort of concept is in its infancy here in Australia, or was. Now it’s been quickly understood as a lot of people try to do their bit on the Twitter hashtags to pass on information and any snippet that might help.
My own meagre efforts have now reached their fourth day. I monitor things on #vicfires and #bushfires and try to retweet anything that’s only on one hashtag that needs to be known on the other. Where possible, I keep my ears tuned for more unique information and try to pass that on.
There have been some real heroes in the Victorian Twitterverse. @774melbourne, attached to our ABC broadcaster, has provided community service announcements and updates, and @cfa_updates has been giving us summaries of the actual CFA site’s advisories. Other individuals go by the nicks @stephenedgar and @strictly. On Monday, @strictly had to take a couple of breaks, especially one where she mentioned that, while one of her friends was safe, two were dead and another ten missing. She still came back to provide some of the best, unique updates she could.
On Monday, fires again threatened Churchill and, although I was able to contact my niece at one stage, there was a harrowing hour or two where I didn’t hear from her and couldn’t get anyone to provide up-to-the-minute information. My sister rang me, also very concerned, but a few minutes after that, I got through to my niece. They and their house were still safe, after the second near-miss.
I read some of the articles on the net yesterday from other countries. They contact a few of us to get our opinions on both the fire and the use of Twitter during the crisis. I’ve even left one comment myself to one such correspondent who’d been monitoring #bushfires and #vicfires. However, one article did rile me, as someone who’d ONLY been the first poster on #firecomments claimed credit for setting it up. He hadn’t been the one suggesting the need for it, however. In fact, that person hadn’t really said much the key hashtags. The reason for setting up #firecomments had been to keep #bushfires and #vicfires open for more necessary information, while providing a hashtag for those wanting to offer condolences. But I didn’t have time to really pull that person up on what he’d claimed. The situation even today (Tuesday) is far from over and the Victorian Twitterverse’s job is still only partly done.
There are communities still under threat. There are still families trying to contact loved ones and friends. There are still relief efforts and other things to do.
Most of us are trying to help in any small way we can. There are some small individuals, though, who aren’t. We hear reports some idiots try to loot homes in the affected areas. And there’s still some concern that some of the fires on Saturday were deliberately lit.
It’s our worst bushfire ever. The enormity of it is weighing on a few people, from what I’ve seen on the Twitter feeds I monitor. But while it’s still not over, we can’t afford to let it overwhelm us.
Scorched Saturday. And the work needed to recover from it is still only part done.
Like this:
This entry was posted on February 10, 2009 at 8:39 am and is filed under Commentary, Melbourne News. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: Australian bushfires, bushfires, disaster, twitter
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.