March workshops seek to empower NT flood evacuees

In March, workshops will bring together researchers and community members to co-design a data dashboard unique to the needs of the Northern Territory.

Hosted by Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) Northern Hub and University of Canberra for the Early Insights for More Resilient Communities project, the workshop series recognises that gathering timely data is the first step to rebuilding a community’s resilience after natural disasters — seeking to put power in the hands of the people to build evidence-backed and tailor-made solutions.

“When people return to Daly River, will they have the finances and social connections to bounce back?” asked Northern Hub Knowledge Broker David Gallacher, pointing to the recent flood evacuations from Daly River as an example of where such datasets may be useful.

“The floods bring the media attention, but often the real struggle starts after the floods have receded and people start to rebuild what they’ve lost.

“Having a data dashboard designed to collect early insights from the Daly River community would show sometime in the next year if the community as a whole is coping.”

David Gallacher. Source: Charles Darwin University

In the Northern Territory, flood-related evacuations are not uncommon, with communities such as Pigeon Hole, Daguragu, Kalkarindji, Yarralin, Palumpa, Borroloola and Timber Creek affected as recently as 2023 and 2024. If left unattended, Gallacher said a community without resilience could experience additional problems.

“The dashboard would show if there’s a sudden drop in school attendance, capacity to pay bills, participation in community events, or whatever metric the project comes up with,” Gallacher said.

“It’s easy to say that a community hasn’t recovered from an event, but without data it’s all just anecdotal and not very convincing.

“This dashboard will provide annually updated data that shows when a community has fallen behind and means that when a community group says they need federal support, they’ve got data to back their claim.”

Encouraging volunteers, business owners, service providers, local residents, and representatives working in the agricultural industry to attend, workshops will run as follows — and can be attended in person and online upon request:

• Darwin: 2 March, 2–5 pm, CDU Waterfront Campus
• Katherine: 3 March, 12:30–3:30 pm, CDU Rural Campus
• Tennant Creek: 5 March, 9:30 am–12:30 pm, Our Community Shed
• Alice Springs: 6 March, 9 am–12 pm, CDU Alice Springs
   

Top image credit: iStock.com/Totajla