The Department of State Development, Tourism and Innovation has announced that a Sunshine Coast school impacted by last year’s bushfires has won a visit from Get Ready Queensland Ambassador, Johnathan Thurston to discuss its disaster preparedness activities.
Deputy Premier and Minister responsible for the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, Steven Miles said Peregian Springs State School had won the draw in the first Get Ready Queensland schools competition.
“The schools competition is a great initiative by the Get Ready Queensland program aimed at encouraging meaningful conversations about preparing for severe weather before disasters strike,” Dr Miles said.
“The response from schools surpassed expectations with more than 1,500 students getting involved.”
He said almost 100 classes from schools across Queensland participated in the competition, learning about a range of preparedness activities, including packing a Grab’n’Go bag, preparing a household emergency plan and what should go into a Pet Emergency Kit.
Mr Thurston said he was looking forward to visiting Peregian Springs State School, seeing the students’ completed activities and finding out what they had learned during the competition.
“We know disasters can develop quickly and often people don’t have much time before they need to act,” Mr Thurston said.
“The Peregian Springs students and their families experienced first-hand last year the impact natural disasters can have when their school was closed due to the threat of fast-moving bushfires.”
He said if the students had been able to learn something from the competition, and had shared that knowledge with their families, “we will all be better off next time a disaster strikes”.
