By Kerry Larsen

• Evac centre ready for 2012/2013
• Design yet to be finalised
• PCYC possible managers

Port Douglas’ newly-announced evacuation centre looks likely to be completed in time for the 2012/2013 wet season with work to get underway as quickly as possible, according to Member for Cook, Jason O’Brien.

The category-five cyclone-rated evacuation centre, able to withstand winds of up to 300km/h, will be built at the elevated Port Douglas State School in Reef Park, complete with back-up generators, a commercial kitchen and ablutions to cater for 500 people.

It is expected to service residents of Port Douglas, Oak Beach, Cooya Beach, Newell Beach, Wonga, Lower Daintree and Cape Tribulation, and will be built with the option to extend the building in the future as more Government funding becomes available.

While approval has been given for construction, residents will have a nervous wait this summer before the evacuation centre is completed.

“I expect shovels to be in the ground in the next couple of months,” Mr O’Brien told The Newsport on Monday. “But it’s not expected to be ready for this wet season, most likely the 2012/2013 wet season.”

The State Government’s announcement on Friday was greeted with excitement and praise from many Port Douglas residents who have been vocal supporters in obtaining the State Government’s allocation of $60 million towards the building of 10 centres around the state.

“It was a very competitive process, there was a lot of competition,” Mr O’Brien said.

The amount of funds allocated towards the centre is not yet known, nor are the designs, which, according to Mr O’Brien, will most likely come via the State Government’s Brisbane designers, Project Services, responsible for recently designing 6-star energy efficiency-rated buildings in the south of the State.

However, it is not yet known if the building process will be put up for tender to give local builders the opportunity to bid for the contract.

“I would hope they (the State Government) would tender the process to give local tradies a go, there is not much work around town at the moment,” Mr O’Brien said.

“It may well be that the Government chooses one builder to build all the centres announced - I hope they give each centre an individual tender.”

Mr O’Brien said it was not yet known if the centre would be managed by Council or the Port Douglas State School, but hoped to see the dreams of two local men – Russell Jean and Steve Hull, who have been drivers of the Port Douglas facility - would be realised by having it run by a local Police-Citizens Youth Club (PCYC).

“As an evacuation centre it may well have to be Council,” Mr O’Brien said. “We hope it’s never used as an evacuation centre, but the school and the whole community will be able to use the facility throughout the rest of the year.

“Another option is for the PCYC to run the centre to get local youth involved and run whole heap of programmes out of there. That would be a good outcome.”

Half of the State Government’s funding for the 10 evacuation centres came via a $30 million donation from the United Arab Emirates to the Queensland Government following cyclone Yasi earlier this year.

“The UAE’s gift of funds was about friendly relations, they are genuine about wanting to do business with Queensland,” Mr O’Brien said. “And we need to make sure we have a broad area of markets we sell this area to.

“I think they were genuinely taken with the images that they saw after Cyclone Yasi. It was an important gesture they made.”

Friday’s announcement also saw evacuation centres announced for the Cook electorate in Weipa and Walker Road at Edmonton, Cairns.

“James Cook University at Smithfield put in a very good bid and just missed out, as an evacuation centre has just opened in Redlynch. But JCU may be looked at again down the track,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Port Douglas was poorly prepared for cyclone Yasi and we were exposed on many levels, including information and communications. That re-enforces how vulnerable we are here.

“Cairns Regional Council’s flood maps, which were released into local letterboxes last week, showed how low-lying some areas of Port Douglas are, so the school is a good choice to locate it.”

Mayor Val Schier said while the new shelters would be welcomed by the community, forward personal planning by residents was imperative.

“Severe weather is part of life in the tropics and having sufficient shelters for our growing population is important,” Cr Schier said

“It has been identified for some time that Port Douglas needed its own cyclone shelter and Council has been investigating options. As it will be built on the grounds of the Port Douglas State School, the building will double as a school and community space that I’m sure will be well-utilised.

“However, preparation is the key to coping with natural disasters and we advise all residents living in flood or storm surge areas to have an evacuation plan well before the start of the cyclone season.”

From this week, Ergon Energy employees will start to place colour-coded stickers in the meter boxes of residential properties that fall within the storm surge zones, as outlined in Council’s hand book delivered last week. The aim of the stickers is to help residents prepare for natural disasters by being educated on whether their residence falls within a flood zone.

Residents of units or properties where the meter box is not easily accessed will receive their stickers in the mail, while homes outside of the predicted storm tide zones will not receive a sticker.