Volunteer Minister Report from Innisfail - March 24th

Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Brisbane and Sydney are on the ground in the cyclone-affected areas in Far North Queensland, assisting with the cleanup effort. Here is a recent report from the Volunteer Ministers there:

Scientology Volunteer Ministers are coordinating with local officials on the ground in Far North Queensland to provide the help needed to get the area back on its feet.

On the night of the 23 March, the Scientology Volunteer Ministers went to Mission beach and Bingle Bay (outlying areas of Innsfail) and spoke personally to residents to see what they needed and wanted. What came back loud and clear is practical help to tarp roofs and provide shelter and petrol chainsaws to help clear debris. The danger with the debris and water is mosquito levels, as rising mosquito levels increases the chance of Dengue fever.

There is still no power and it will be out for over a week because there are many downed wires and they have a greater priority to find any live wires and handle them before they put new stuff up. Power right now is from generators only. Our team are charging their phones on a car phone charger and the email is also run on generator at the police club and hospital. Only places with email is police and at the hospital.

This is now 5 days after the cyclone landed the areas outlying Innisfail have not been getting any attention and need help desperately and this is what we have one team concentrating on now.

Our large Volunteer Minister truck was driven up today. The Brisbane church's VM tent is now set up in King George V Park in Innisfail which is in the centre of town, providing help to the people there.

There are people in the area who want to help and who were previously being turned away as officials did not know what to do with them. Once our Volunteer Ministers arrived, they have sent them to us to get trained up on what to do and help. The Volunteer Ministers are ensuring that these people have their own house taken care of and then they are enlisting their help. There is a lot of manual labour needed -- cleaning up, moving things, chopping down the trees, etc.

The VMs are now delivering food to outer-lying houses by the 4WDs and have one team at the hall and one at the tent. On Friday, they covered 3 people's houses to stop the rain and there is a lot of heavy work to do and cleaning up.

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More help is definitely needed. Contact brisbane@scientology.net to find out how you can help, or click the donation link on the home page of this site to make a contribution to the effort.