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During an emergency
It is essential to stay calm during an emergency and take steps that ensure the safety of yourself and others.
If you are in a life-threatening situation, call '000' to contact the police, fire brigade or ambulance services, or dial 106 through TTY if you have a speech or hearing impairment.
Follow the advice in official information and warnings from VicEmergency.
Listen to ABC Radio (774AM is the local station for City of Casey) for additional emergency information and warnings. An emergency can impact you before a warning can be issued. Be alert of what is happening in your surroundings, especially during severe weather.
Follow your prepared emergency plan.
Make sure you are safe before you assist anyone else.
Have your emergency kit ready to take with you in the event of an evacuation,
If you need to evacuate, stay with family or friends that are outside of the emergency affected area.
Emergency Relief Centres
In a major emergency where community are being evacuated by emergency services, City of Casey may open temporary shelter locations known as Emergency Relief Centres (ERC).
An ERC is a safe place away from the impacted area where community can access support to meet their immediate essential needs such as shelter, food and water, material aid and first aid (both physical and psychological).
An ERC is intended for short term support until people can return to their homes or longer-term emergency accommodation arrangements can be made. While Council and relief support agencies aim to make an ERC a comfortable and safe environment for all, an ERC generally provides very basic living conditions.
City of Casey have leisure facilities and community centres within the municipality that can be used as an ERC during an emergency, but the location and type of emergency will determine which centre is opened to the community. Community can find out which centre to attend by viewing the warnings issued through VicEmergency or through the City of Casey’s social media pages.
Recovering after an emergency
The following steps can be followed following an emergency.
If you have evacuated your home during an emergency, wait until emergency services give you clearance to return.
Check in on your friends, family and neighbours to ensure they are safe.
Take precautions when returning home by wearing protective clothing and shoes as there may be hidden hazards.
If your water, electricity or gas has been disconnected, call the service providers to reconnect – do not attempt to do this yourself.
Take photos and make notes about what has been damaged.
Contact your insurance company if you have home and contents insurance – this includes renters.
More information
The below sites have more information about recovering after an emergency:
- Emergency Recovery Victoria
- Recovery and Resilience Initiatives | National Emergency Management Agency
Dealing with trauma and ongoing after effects
Recovering from an emergency is a process and can take time, patience, and resilience. Connecting with family, friends and community is an important part of the recovery journey, as well as making time for hobbies that make you feel good. Having strong feelings and reactions after an emergency is very normal for a lot of people to experience, however these feelings should start to subside after a couple of weeks.
Addition information and support can be found at:
Violent and controlling behaviour in emergencies
Emergencies can cause added stress on close relationships and families, however violence in any form is not okay, regardless of the circumstances, and is never the fault of the victim. If you are experiencing family violence or are using violent or controlling behaviour towards your family, know that there is help available.
Services to contact for help
If you are in a life-threatening situation, call 000 to contact the police, fire brigade or ambulance services, or dial 106 through TTY if you have a speech or hearing impairment. Otherwise, the following services can be contacted.
- Men’s Referral Service - for men who are using or experiencing violence.
- Safe Steps - Victoria’s 24/7 family violence response centre.
- With Respect - LGBTIQ+ family violence service.
- Djirra - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family violence.
- In Touch - Support for migrant women in a variety of languages.
- WAYSS - Family violence & housing support
For more information on what the City of Casey is doing to prevent family violence, view the prevention strategy.
Volunteering
If you are interested in volunteering with the emergency services or want to help the community with their recovery, the best thing you can do is register your interest before an emergency strikes. The City of Casey has an established network of volunteer-based organisations which require background checks. If you would like to volunteer with one of our local organisations, you can register your interest through Volunteer Matcher.
More information can also be found on Volunteering Victoria.