PRESS RELEASE: 29.10.2013
Victorian bushfire victims warn NSW - this is only the beginning
As the destruction left in the wake of the NSW begins to be assessed, a new report from
Victoria warns that the effects of large scale bushfire on men reach far into the future, with
consequences such as increased aggression, suicide, alcohol consumption and mental health
issues, often hidden from view.
Fire Services Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said, ‘Black Saturday rocked so many lives. We
now know that many men didn’t cope and sometimes hurt themselves and the people they
love. We owe it to our communities and to these men to understand how to best meet their
needs’.
Funded by the National Disaster Resilience Grants Scheme, the first national and
international conference to examine the often hidden effects of disasters and their aftermath
on men, ‘Just ask: Experiences of men after Black Saturday’ will be held in Melbourne on
November 26th at The William Angliss Conference Centre.
A new report to be launched at this conference debunks popular myths that men ‘don’t talk’
and shows how in the aftermath of the 2009 Victorian fires, government, agency and
community responses, for many men, exacerbated the trauma of the fires. Four years later,
men report they continue to experience the consequences of the fires – often in isolation.
