{"id":36417,"date":"2026-06-22T22:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/36417\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T22:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:54:13","slug":"multicultural-communities-still-struggle-with-emergency-messaging-in-times-of-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/36417\/","title":{"rendered":"Multicultural communities still struggle with emergency messaging in times of crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Somalia, Koos Ali said when natural disasters would hit, her community would turn to each other to survive.<\/p>\n

“We have learnt to make sure if anything happens we have a community approach and we don’t wait for the government,” she said.<\/p>\n

Droughts, floods and extreme heat are common in Somalia, she said, along with war.<\/p>\n

But nothing prepared her for the sorts of disasters she would experience when she migrated south.<\/p>\n

“When there’s war, there are bullets. You can run, you can hide,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But when it comes to Australian disasters, it’s a whole learning process. It’s a totally different approach.”<\/p>\n

Almost as soon as she landed in Australia she was confronted by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019\u201320 and remembered seeing darkness and clouds.<\/p>\n

She said the danger did not hit home until some of her colleagues were forced out of their homes by the blaze.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Koos Ali says nothing prepared her for the reality of living through an Australian bushfire. (ABC Gippsland: Danielle Kutchel)<\/p>\n

“That’s when you understand what it means to be prepared,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Seeing it happening makes a huge difference [compared] to all the pamphlets that I’d read.”<\/p>\n

Communication is key<\/p>\n

Ms Ali is a settlement support officer for Gippsland Multicultural Services (GMS), an advocacy body promoting the rights of the culturally and linguistically diverse community in Gippsland.<\/p>\n

Through its activities within multicultural communities in the region, the organisation helps promote good preparedness for emergencies like bushfires and floods.<\/p>\n

GMS also established the Gippsland Multicultural Regional Emergency Management Network to support mainstream agencies, including firefighters and police, to better understand and connect with communities.<\/p>\n

The idea is to create a bridge between official emergency messaging and the real-life experiences of multicultural communities living in the region.<\/p>\n

There are other similar networks around Victoria, targeting approaches to multicultural communities in different parts of the state.<\/p>\n

The missing link<\/p>\n

GMS access and support officer Kate Allen said people new to Australia may simply not understand common phrases about emergencies.<\/p>\n

Arriving in Australia from Belarus, where she experienced severe snowstorms, she said she had no concept of the speed and severity of a bushfire, or how to prepare for or monitor fire conditions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kate Allen says some migrant communities distrust authority due to the trauma they have experienced in their past. (ABC News: Danielle Kutchel)<\/p>\n

“No-one understands [Watch and Act]. Watch who act?” she said.<\/p>\n

“Should we be packing a bag or leaving the house? Or stand outside to watch the sky, or just listen to the radio for the whole night?<\/p>\n

“If you’re not familiar with the system it means nothing.<\/p>\n

“The government is doing an amazing job by providing this information, but there is also a missing link explaining what this information means for your street, for your house, for your daily life.”<\/p>\n

Ms Allan said multicultural communities need more than translated information, they need clear and targeted points of action, and context delivered with a human approach.<\/p>\n

Learning to trust again<\/p>\n

Ms Allan said some of those who came to Australia had a distrust of authority and had unsafe experiences with government systems in the past.<\/p>\n

“Trust in authority is not automatic,” Ms Allen said.<\/p>\n

Authorities can counter this by building relationships with multicultural communities through consistency and reliability.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Koos Ali and Kate Allen draw on their experiences to help others settling in Australia. (ABC News: Danielle Kutchel)<\/p>\n

“It’s never just about official websites, it’s more about community organisations, multicultural networks, faith leaders and local services,” she said.<\/p>\n

Building community<\/p>\n

Richard Ogetii is the co-chair of the Multicultural Emergency Management Partnership (MEMP) which brings together emergency management agencies with leaders from multicultural communities.<\/p>\n

It was founded during the pandemic when multicultural leaders realised that while communication was being provided on what to do, no-one was checking whether the information was being received in the right way.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Richard Ogetii says authorities can built trust simply by “showing up”. (Supplied: Richard Ogetii)<\/p>\n

“Communication should be a two-way process,” he said.<\/p>\n

After the pandemic years the MEMP shifted its focus, using what had been learned during COVID-19 to inform better communication during emergencies.<\/p>\n

“It’s about making sure that you’re always prepared, and whatever information is being put out there is accessible to everyone,” Mr Ogetii said.<\/p>\n

He said the services needed to counter mistrust in multicultural communities that did not place faith in uniformed figures.<\/p>\n

“Trust is built through showing up \u2026 [and] attending community events, building rapport and proving that authorities can be counted on to do the right thing,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Multicultural communities are often relational, so there needs to be a relationship there to enhance understanding.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The CFA visits a migrant community event in Wodonga to help build relationships between the two. (Supplied: Richard Ogetii)<\/p>\n

Services promise understanding<\/p>\n

An Emergency Management Victoria spokesperson said the organisation delivered emergency information through multiple channels and community leaders.<\/p>\n

“During high\u2011risk weather periods we develop and share in\u2011language emergency messaging in priority languages with multicultural networks, supported by a dedicated accessible communications officer who works closely with peak multicultural organisations,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Ambulance Victoria Gippsland director Ross Salathiel said the organisation worked closely with multicultural communities and the Victorian Multicultural Commission to provide tailored communications in-language.<\/p>\n

Similarly, CFA acting chief officer Alen Slijepcevic said the CFA worked to build relationships with local communities to improve the cultural accessibility of its communications.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The CFA visits a multicultural community event in the Wodonga region. (Supplied: Richard Ogetii)<\/p>\n

“CFA recognises that trust is built through relationships, not just through translated information. CFA’s engagement is most effective when it is localised,” Mr Slijepcevic said.<\/p>\n

“CFA also understands that some newer arrivals, particularly humanitarian entrants, may have experienced trauma, low trust in institutions, or unfamiliarity with Australian public systems.”<\/p>\n

A Victoria Police spokesperson said it held regular engagement with multicultural communities to help them feel safe and prompt conversations.<\/p>\n

“We also have dedicated multicultural liaison officers and new and emerging community liaison officers who help provide direct links to multicultural groups across Victoria to support migrant communities,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up in Somalia, Koos Ali said when natural disasters would hit, her community would turn to each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3798,22,21,30944,27367,30942,25033,14285,30943],"class_list":["post-36417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-ambulance-victoria","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-carmel-riley","tag-cfa","tag-gippsland-multicultural-services","tag-multiculturalism","tag-natural-disaster","tag-richard-ogetii"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}