Seventh-day Adventists found emergency accommodation for 3,000 people and provided $A30,000 in relief during the bushfires that ravaged New South Wales, Australia, over Christmas and New Year’s. The bushfires, Australia’s worst in eight years, destroyed 110 homes and burned 1.24 million acres before being contained.

Some 130 people volunteered as part of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency’s ADRAcare disaster recovery service. Peter Olney, emergency services manager for the state’s department of community services, describes the ADRAcare volunteers as “very, very efficient.”

The Australian government delegates responsibility for recovery services during disasters to church, community, and welfare organizations. The Red Cross, for example, provides personal support; the Salvation Army, food; and the St. Vincent de Paul Society, clothing and furniture.

Merv Jackson, ADRAcare’s area coordinator for western New South Wales, says the cooperation between the volunteers has improved noticeably since the bushfires of 1994. “It’s been a real team effort.”

“We were ready for this disaster,” says Chris Olafson, manager for ADRAcare’s disaster recovery service in New South Wales. “We catered for every need, including placing 550 firefighters from outside the state in beds in Sydney on New Year’s Eve.”

Ken Bird, minister of the Adventist Church at Nowra in the southeast section of the state, says ADRAcare volunteers were among the most prepared during the bushfires. He talks positively of a training program Olafson established 18 months ago, and of the ADRAcare Emergency Accommodation Kit, completed only a week and a half before the first of the bushfires flared. “Our volunteers now have access to the same resources, most of which they can download from a Web site,” he says.

“The church has been wonderfully represented during the bushfires,” says Peter Jack, ADRAcare director for the Adventist Church in Sydney. “Chris provided outstanding leadership. His volunteers provided good support.

“We now have trained and equipped teams that will play an effective role in any future disaster response throughout New South Wales.”