Last week, brown muddy water covered 80% of Queensland, not only destroying crops and mines and those industries vital to its functioning economy, but flooding the third most populous city in the nation, Brisbane... which yes, is the exact city I will be a resident of in 3 weeks. The water peaked at 4.46 metres (14.6 feet) in Brisbane on 13 January 2011. In the video link below, you can see entire riverfront restaurants floating down the swollen river and getting demolished against a bridge, cars being swept away, and horses only surviving the waters by finding the tip of a rooftop to rest their heads on. It's just shocking to see. Fortunately, the rain has let up and the water has since receded, but still 17 people were killed and an area the size of Germany and France combined is sopping wet and covered in a sludgy mess. Over 25,000 homes and businesses in Ipswich and Brisbane were engulfed... and entire families lost every last thing they owned, with nowhere sanitary to live, nothing to eat, and only the clothes on their backs. To compound the immediate effects, the destruction to the local economy is going to cause rising food prices and overall inflation. The storm is not even over either--it is currently headed south toward New South Wales and Victoria. Hopefully it has lost most of its vigor.
Click here for footage of the Brisbane floods
In the midst of such times heartache and devastation, I was always taught by my family to dwell less on the negativity and rather look to the future and find any bit of humor and optimism possible. So here's my personal list of good news to focus on:
- Because of the Wivenhoe Dam built in 1983 that is 50 km west of Brisbane, the flood waters did not reach their anticipated height, and did not surpass the record levels of flooding from the infamous 1974 Queensland floods. Had the dam not been there, experts estimate that the water level would have far surpassed the 1974 historical record.
- Just one week from the peak day of the floods, the University of Queensland will be open again and fully functioning (which will be 20 January). Other than some recreational facilities (pool, tennis courts, fields), UQ will be functioning completely normal by the time orientation for Semester 1 begins on 21 February. Classes will commence on schedule.
- Herston Campus, home to the Health Sciences Dept. and where my International Public Health classes will be, was not flooded at all.
- My temporary accommodations were not affected by the flooding--those being my Rotary host counselor's family home in Lawnton and YHA City hostel in Brisbane CBD.
- The generosity, compassion, hospitality, and sense of community of Australians and Queenslanders has been made very apparent to me, even before ever stepping foot in the country. Over 55,000 citizen volunteers spent the past weekend assisting residents affected by the flooding. People such as my Rotary host counselor let his employees have several days off to assist in the clean up in place of working for him. The collective efforts have been so effective that the restoration of some areas, such as UQ, are ahead of schedule.
- There will be an even greater array of opportunities for me in terms of the Rotary service projects I will be taking part in and the main one I will establish during my year abroad. I will be able to directly give back to the neighborhoods and friends that will have served as my one-year home. There is even more of a chance that the help most needed will be in the fields I am most passionate about and want to learn the most about--public health, nutrition and water sanitation.
The Brisbane I will be arriving to on 11 February will not be the same Brisbane it was when I first found out I would be living there. But if anything, I think living in this post-natural disaster city will just make for a more momentous and life-changing experience... and I really do think "she'll be right!"
