Drawing on lessons from Bondi
Victorian Jewish leaders to review crisis planning after Bondi attack at upcoming JCCV plenum.
The Victorian Jewish community is overhauling its crisis and recovery planning in response to the Chanukah terror attack at Bondi Beach.
The Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) is convening a June plenum to ensure local institutions are ready if a similar tragedy strikes in Melbourne.
JCCV president Philip Zajac said the Sydney experience had underlined the value of resilient communal structures.
“The tragedy at Bondi Beach, and the ongoing community recovery in Sydney, has reinforced the importance of strong, connected and resilient communities.The best way to recover from any sort of crisis, whether it is a public health crisis, an environmental crisis, or a terrorist attack, is to be prepared.”
The plenum, titled “Community, Resilience, Strength. Preparing for Crisis Together”, will be held on Monday June 1 at a Caulfield location, and is open to JCCV member organisations and the broader community.
JCCV CEO Naomi Levin said the Bondi attack had underlined the value of doing the planning work before a crisis hit, not during one. “I’d much rather have a plan and be prepared and never have to use it than to bury our heads in the sand and not be ready for whatever might come our way as a Jewish community.”
Practical preparation could include identifying where to shelter displaced community members for long periods and how to coordinate mental health support after a significant incident.
“Practising for these scenarios in advance will mean that if something terrible does happen to our community, we’re not scrambling. We can just pull that plan out.”
The key organising body is Jewish Community Crisis Management (JCCM), run by the Community Security Group (CSG) in partnership with the JCCV.
Levin said planning would involve rabbis, social welfare and care organisations including Jewish Care and C Care, and emergency response group Hatzolah.
She said NSW colleagues had been frank about what had worked and what had not.
“They did an amazing job at pulling together in the worst of circumstances, and in other areas they have been quite honest and said there were some challenges, and this is how we would do things differently if, God forbid, this happened again.”