Australian Story: July 15

Monday’s Australian Story looks at the power of social media and the ways it helped Tasmania during a time of crisis.

During Tasmania’s January bushfires, when emergency services were stretched and communications faltered, a Facebook page emerged as a key tool to bypass clogged official channels, and galvanise a shattered community into action.

Even now, six months on, the page is still active.

Its administrator, 29 –year- old fitness instructor and psychology PhD student Mel Irons, has never attempted anything like this before. But her page, “Tassie Fires – We Can Help” set up at the beginning of the fires, has become one of Australia’s best examples of how important social media can be in an emergency.

“At times of crisis we know that people are searching for information, they’re hungry for information,” says social media expert Callan Paske.

“Within 24 hours the page amassed around 17,000 likes which is just astonishing. Most commercial companies would kill for that sort of engagement.”

Requests and offers for support came flooding in. The site became a way to connect families and friends who’d been separated by the fires. Mel used her background in psychology to harness the initial enthusiasm of the community before it waned.

“I was getting really good information from all quarters about the sort of stuff that was needed, and it changed from hour to hour. That’s the great thing about Facebook; it’s so current, I could keep people really up to date,” she says.

One of the page’s biggest achievements was saving a major oyster spat supplier from ruin. Miraculously, Cameron’s Oysters hatchery hadn’t burned, but the power was out and the pumps had died. Every hour was critical as the animals became stressed by the smoke and heat. With the help of generous volunteers, Mel arranged for massive generators and a team of electricians and engineers to get through the police road block to save the hatchery. In the end, only 10% of stock was lost.

“People were sharing information and getting results. It essentially became a way for volunteers to communicate directly with people that needed help, without having to go through official channels,” says Damian McIver, Mel’s partner and a journalist who covered the bushfires.

While emergency services warn that Mel and other volunteers involved in the page took risks, they have praised the community effort and their achievements.

The Tasmanian Government is now developing a new public information website in consultation with Mel, which will be launched later this year.

Monday July 15, ABC1, at 8pm.