SISWP President's Appeal for Flood Victims in Australia

SISWP President Yvonne Simpson has announced an appeal for the flood victims in Australia:

Dear Soroptimist sisters

You will see on the news the terrible devastation occurring and predicted to occur in Australia with flooding. We have three areas affected - Western Australia, Riverina and now Queensland, where the worst flooding is occurring as I write this. I know you will want to help - the magnitude of the devastation means that there will be much to do.

At this stage I am requesting donations of funds. Once the waters have subsided we can look more closely at where to focus our efforts. We are investigating what projects we can best support. The funds will be for Soroptimist projects.

Please forward your donations to your Federation HQ clearly marked “SISWP Appeal for Flood Victims.”

Yvonne Simpson, SISWP President

On a personal note, this was shared by Soroptimist Chris Knight:

"I have been in touch with our closest Club SI Toowoomba - the members and their families are all OK.

Toowoomba was inundated with an inland tsunami yesterday the like we have never seen before. 9 lives have been lost so far and 66 people are still missing. I am sure that many of our international members have seen some of the footage on TV.

I have just spoken with one of our members and good friend from the SI Toowoomba Club Alison Langdon - all their members are OK thankfully. The club hasn't decided what they will do to help others yet as it is still too early to decide what the greatest needs are going to be in providing assistance to local communities.

The flood waters are now flowing down river through Ipswich and Brisbane tonight and tomorrow - we do have the majority of our SI members in our region living in these areas so hopefully they will be OK.

I opted to work from home today - a sensible decision it turned out as the Brisbane River broke its banks in several places and much of the transport and roads in and out have been affected with closures. It takes me around three hours every day to travel to work so it would have been difficult getting home.

I live on the northside of Brisbane about 55kms away and while our home is OK, the roads are cut off around Caboolture about 12 minutes from where I live and the highways in and out are closed. Everyone is trying to stay off the roads and those people in Brisbane and the surrounding areas have been advised to keep off the roads, keep out of the water and find shelter on higher ground.

The rain is only a light shower at the moment but the concern is the flood waters that are still flowing though at a rapid speed. It will be a long night tonight for many people and we have king tides due tomorrow so this will be another complication in dealing with the water and the debris that is floating down stream for the next couple of days.

It is really tragic to see what is happening to some of our communities, businesses and families and it will take many months and perhaps even years to be able to rebuild the infrastructure etc but at the moment our emergency services are working very hard and doing all they can to support people. Australia has a rapid response at both a state and nation level in helping out in these situations which is wonderful.

Maddie Wright and I are very grateful for your love and support that you have all sent us here in Queensland and our hearts and thoughts are also with our Sister Soroptimists in New South Wales and Western Australia."

(photos provided by a Soroptimist in Australia)