Some 250 to 300 people are expected to be living in tents for months and others are camping in destroyed homes amid the massive cleanup effort in Arnhem Land following last month’s category four cyclone Lam.
Lam caused extensive damage when it made landfall as a category four storm, with the communities of Galiwin’ku, Ramingining and Milingimbi among the hardest hit.
Hundreds of houses were damaged in Galiwin’ku, home to more that 2,000 people. In Ramingining and Milingimbi homes and school facilities were damaged, but schools in both communities were expected to reopen on Monday.
The cleanup and rebuild is expected to cost more than $100m.
Now the recovery is underway, residents are asking questions about the reconstruction plan, Labor opposition leader Delia Lawrie has said.
“The immediate response of everyone on the ground … is fantastic. Everyone is now saying what happens next and they don’t have the answers,” Lawrie told media on Friday afternoon after visiting the three communities with the MP for Nhulunbuy, Lynne Walker.
An emergency “tent city” for displaced people was not yet open when Lawrie and Walker visited, and Lawrie said there were some residents “literally camping out in shells of homes” which had been damaged by the storm.
“There are people who are crowding in already overcrowded homes with other relatives.”
The tents, which sleep 10 people each and have been set up on the football oval at Galiwin’ku, were shipped in by the NSW rural fire service. It is expected people will stay in them for up to eight weeks.
Residents began moving into the tents just this weekend. Lawrie dismissed suggestions that the NT should have its own tents on hand, but conceded the length of time it took for them to arrive is part of the post cyclone debrief.
“Emergency Australia knew what exists where in terms of an emergency response, and it was put to the NT that they’ve got the tents there in NSW and can bring them to the territory,” she said.
“Do we need to replicate a good resource that exists somewhere else in Australia? Probably not … If we can access it when we need to then that’s a great outcome.”
John Japp, the CEO of the East Arnhem shire council, said planning for the camp is underway, and services including rubbish collection and the council night patrol were running again.
“It’s very difficult as you can imagine only moving into the third week [after the cyclone],” Japp told Guardian Australia, adding that clearing of the thousands of felled trees was still going, hindering access to some areas.
There have been reports of delays in reconstruction due to miscommunication among government departments, and of psychological distress among some residents.
Feedback from organisations and government departments on the ground indicate there are “levels of stress, but that would be understandable,” Japp said.
“[Cyclones] are a very frightening experience and it does take a bit of time to recover.”
Counsellors have been brought in and some activities had been organised for young people in the communities, he said.
“We’ve had a disco, and had a basketball round robin over the weekend on Galiwin’ku, and that was very well attended.”
Disaster payments of $1,000 for adults and $400 for children are available from the federal government to people who were injured, lost their homes or whose homes have been directly damaged by the cyclone. People otherwise impacted by the cyclone are eligible for immediate relief payments of up to $1,245 per family. There have been concerns about emergency payments being given out in lump sums and fostering social problems in the small communities.
The complication for cyclone Lam victims is accessing the items they need to replace, with only one store in town, Japp said.
“The stores have been very supportive, but when you consider the demands on the barges bringing in sand for our childcare centre because the sandpit was contaminated by asbestos from a building which came down, all the emergency gear coming in on a barge with limited capacity,” he said.
“The stores will struggle with not just food but also whitegoods and appliances that have been damaged by the storm which this funding is supposed to assist with.”
The Northern Territory government said that while planning for significant capital works is “in its infancy” delivering long-term opportunities for local training, employment and business was a key aim.
“A major feature of the reconstruction effort will be partnerships with Yolngu business and enterprises across the three communities,” it said in a statement.
