Bushfire Recovery & Resilience
Supporting Aussie Families Rebuild and Prepare for Future Bushfires
Habitat for Humanity Australia has been one of the most committed organisations in the greater Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands of NSW mobilising volunteers to provide practical bushfire recovery and resilience activities. Thanks to the support of our volunteers, partners and donors we have been able to support more Australian families recover from the Bushfires and now help them prepare for future bushfires.
Bushfire Resilience
Our Bushfire Resilience Program is focusing on the most vulnerable members of their wider communities, local volunteers will help people prepare for bushfires by clearing away potential hazards at properties and shared spaces.
Alongside partner organisations, Habitat will also be working to help neighbourhoods get together, improve their skills and knowledge, and plan and prepare for bushfires as robust and connected communities.
Bushfire Recovery Program Outputs
Habitat is committed to providing recovery services to fire-affected residents. The free service offered by Habitat involves:
Clean-up, salvage, sorting and piling of debris including homes, sheds and outbuilding, fencing and trees. Work will be undertaken to improve the living conditions of the family/resident we are helping.
New South Wales
Our Bushfire Recovery Program started in June 2020 and since then volunteers teams have been assisting on recovery days 2-3 days every week.
Key activities have included removing debris, removal and replacement of damaged fencing, re-instituting irrigation and re-planting of vegetation, and construction of a water and sanitation block
South Australia
Habitat South Australia’s program ‘Gardens of Hope’ assists families who lost their homes in the Cudlee Creek bushfires. Gardens of Hope will provide visual relief from fire-damaged landscapes and remove the burden from the homeowner of doing all the work themselves. Giving homeowners this support allows them to return to other normal daily activities and provide fire affected community members a significant boost in spirits and morale. This project is supported by Bendigo Bank, and is seeking South Australians to generously volunteer their time to help out.
Victoria
In Victoria the ‘Build Back’ program built temporary houses for bushfire affected families so they can have a safe and secure place to live whilst they rebuild their homes.
The pilot program included the building of three, 2-bedroom temporary houses in the Towong Shire, made from shipping containers.
Impact stories
Read our Aussie partner family stories from our Bushfire Recovery Program.