A natural disaster-preparedness project will not proceed in Gunnedah after organisers considered the demographic a greater challenge than anticipated.
The proposed, five-year program called Equip aimed to help strengthen mental and emotional readiness across the Gunnedah district.
Rather than focusing on disaster recovery or physical preparedness, Equip planned to build psychological preparedness before events occur.
A key part of the project was establishing an advisory group and “community connectors” to lead the research.
Gunnedah was flagged as one of just three NSW locations to take part in the program led by researchers from the Armidale-based University of New England.
But after some early discussion with the Gunnedah community, the Equip team said the number and extent of meetings over an extended period of time – both with different groups within town and the surrounding farming community – would have posed a challenge for its small NSW team that was already replicating efforts at other NSW sites.
“For these reasons we have decided to not proceed with Gunnedah in the current project timelines,” an Equip spokesperson said.
Equip researchers are still planning to attend AqQuip in August to help “establish a foundation with the Gunnedah agricultural community as well as broader stakeholders”.
