23rd February is a big day for Flowerdale

You may have seen in the news how Flowerdale has taken direct action to get residents accommodation and is setting up a temporary village on the recreation reserve.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/754967/flowerdale-starts-diy-rebuilding-process



The two vans in shot were donated by the Portland House Foundation, and they also donated a couple of others to people in town. The village is growing quickly and is known as Crashtown, not only because it will be a place to crash, but the guy running it on the ground is known as Crash.

I took in laptops and a printer, donated by Deloitte, on the weekend and Telstra is setting up an antenna on Monday. We expect to have a little internet cafe set up so residents can finally access information.



The State Government will tomorrow inform the town committee formed in the aftermath of the bushfires what support it will give. The speed with which things are moving really requires that significant funding (we are talking more than $1m but less than $5m in my humble guesstimation) is given to provide the necessary infrastructure such as toilets, cooking facilities, water etc without too much red tape and bureaucracy.

Another key factor will be to let the community set the tone for how it will work. Flowerdillians don't want it to be like an "indian reservation" more as a facility for those who have lost homes and want to stay in the community.