Making Gippsland Resilient.
Recent increases in the number and severity of bushfires, floods and storms from climate change means we need to be ready for more frequent extreme weather events.
We’re helping Gippsland communities move beyond disaster response by supporting practical, community and household-level resilience actions before the next emergency.
Building your
home's resilience.
If you can improve your home’s resilience, the next natural disaster may not become a personal disaster.
Whether you’re living in an older home, planning a new build, or rebuilding after a loss, assessing your home’s ability to withstand the next major event is invaluable.
In 2025, we partnered with the Resilient Building Council (RBC) to deliver a pilot program to help homeowners understand their risks, assess their homes and suggest achievable improvements.
You can use the RBC’s free online multi-hazard assessment tool to assess your home’s resilience. It provides clear, cost-effective advice on steps (big or small) you can take to strengthen and better protect your home or business.
It also gives you the option to have your Resilience Rating certified, with some banks and insurance companies providing a discount to certified homes.
An overview of the pilot program can be viewed here. It includes a summary for using the tool and useful resources for each Gippsland local government area.
The cost of building resilience into homes is a fraction of the cost of rebuilding after disaster.
RBC's Free Assessment ToolRBC's resilience rating app is now
recognised by major insureres
Building your
community's
resilience
Increasingly, we are helping communities and families to develop a more resilient approach and prepare for future events.
Build back better
Following the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009, GERF worked with the Department of Agriculture, Department of Primary Industries and VFF Fencing Coordinators to support rural communities across the three fire complex areas. The extensive loss of fencing in Gippsland’s farming communities created significant challenges for recovery.
GERF’s response was substantial. We purchased and distributed over $450,000 worth of steel fencing materials to affected farmers, including:
- 32,690 steel posts
- 1,209 kilometres of fencing wire
- 1,008 steel end assembly fencing units
These materials were distributed through site depots in Delburn, Churchill-Jeeralang and Bunyip, helping farmers rebuild and build greater resilience into their operations.
Beyond fencing, GERF also worked with the Community Recovery Committee to establish a tool library for the Traralgon South community, providing free access to essential tools for those undertaking repairs and reconstruction.
Power for the
next event
In the communities of Budgeree and Yarram, we helped provide power generators for use if grid power is lost.
The need for a generator in Budgeree was identified as a community priority following bushfire in 2019 and storm in 2021 – the community being isolated for up to nine days without telecommunications or electricity.
In 2021 storm events impacted many communities in Yarram and surrounding districts. As a result of power lines down many communities were cut off for days or weeks and had no means of power or communication.
The generators will help community volunteers to deliver basic amenities such as hot food, phone charging stations, water, lights, and shelter during and following emergencies.
Recovery that helps vulnerable communities and mitigates future disasters
GERF joined with Latrobe City Council to support the “Clean Up and Storm Resilience in Gippsland Project” in 2022/23 that was funded through Bushfire Recovery Victoria.
The project provided clean up grants from the June 2021 Flood/Storm event to residents with low incomes or in financial hardship across the impacted local government areas of South Gippsland, Wellington, Baw Baw, Latrobe City and Bass Coast.
The grants helped individuals with clean up activities associated with the June 2021 Flood/Storm activities on private property and ensured reduction of future sources of bushfire fuel and debris near homes and improved community bushfire safety. GERF distributed $229,049, making 97 payments to recipients.
For more information,
Visit the CFA, SES, or
BRI websites
Helping
Gippsland
since 1978.
