2022 Northern Rivers floods: reflections on Engineers Without Borders Australia’s humanitarian engineering response

In March 2022, not-for-profits Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB) and Holding Hands Under Ground (HHUG) joined forces to respond to the catastrophic floods that devastated the Northern Rivers community. In June 2022, we mobilised volunteer engineers from across the world to respond to the engineering needs of 112 expressions of interest for assistance, from flood-affected Northern Rivers residents.

This was the first time EWB mobilised engineering support to respond to a climate-related disaster in Australia. Two years on from the floods, we have had an opportunity to speak with residents and volunteers to learn what worked well, what did not, and where we could do better in the future to assist communities recover from disasters

Join EWB and HHUG for an evening of coming together, reflection and learning as we share:

• A short film that shares the stories of flood-affected residents, documents the engineering response and highlights the challenges experienced by residents and volunteers;

• A presentation from EWB and HHUG about learnings from this pilot project;

• A panel discussion hosted by HHUG Co-Director Ella Rose Goninan on how we can apply learnings from the 2022 flood recovery response to future disasters, what support is required for communities to thrive and, where to from here for the Northern Rivers community. Ella will be joined on the panel by Civil Engineer and EWB Volunteer Dominic Cavanough (Cav), EWB Chief Engineer Peter McArdle, Resilient Uki Founder Melanie Bloor and Richmond Landcare Project Office Ivy Young;

• An audience Q&A with our panel members. If you would like our panel members to answer a question, please submit your question when RSVPing to this event.

This is a free event – all are welcome to attend!

Food will be provided. Please indicate any dietary requirements when registering.

This event is hosted by Engineers Without Borders Australia and Holding Hands Under Ground and funded by the NAB Foundation Community Grant Program.

RSVP here.