Toughening up for disasters
TOWNSVILLE e mergency services are now able to co- ordinate natural disaster responses from one of the toughest buildings in North Queensland.
The $ 8.5 million Townsville Local Disaster Coordination Centre ( LDCC) has been completed in time for the cyclone season.
The centre was built with 54 tonnes of reinforced steel and almost 650 cubic metres of concrete. It can withstand a Category 5 cyclone, including winds of up to 300km/ h.
The building has backup power generators, water supplies and diesel fuel to ensure emergency services will be able to continue to update residents if a disaster hits.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Mayor Jenny Hill visited the new state- of- theart centre in Dalrymple Rd, Garbutt yesterday.
“Queensland is no stranger to natural disasters including cyclones, floods and droughts,” Ms Palaszczuk said. “We’ve also seen recently prolonged heatwave conditions which contributed to the worst bushfire emergency to impact our state.”
Cr Hill said the LDCC would be the home of disaster response for future major weather events.
“This state- of- the- art facility will provide all agencies needed to manage a disaster with the space they need when the next major event hits,” she said. “This has been a great collaboration between all levels of government to ensure the best possible outcome for the community when a disaster hits.”
Townsville City Council received $ 1.98 million in funding from the joint Commonwealth- State Natural Disaster Resilience Program.