The Manning Area Disaster Resilience Leadership Course will be held on Saturday May 17 and Sunday May 18 at Club Taree.

The course is a joint initiative of the NSW State Emergency Service (SES), Greater Taree City Council and the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS).

The workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss the roles their organisation could play in reducing the impacts of disasters on their local communities. 

The first day of the workshop will concentrate on familiarising participants with local emergency  management arrangements, risks and consequences of natural disasters and with ways of building community resilience to these events using an assets based approach. The second day will be allocated to participants developing their own disaster resilience actions plans based around a cross sector collaborative approach. 

Some the practical action plans to come out of previous workshops held in other communities include a service club providing catering to local emergency services during a disaster, the local football team having a roster of players in place to help fill sand bags during floods and a local chamber of commerce running disaster business continuity planning workshops. 

The course is free, fully catered and has places available for up to 30 participants with the registration period open until Monday May 12.

People wishing to attend the course can access a registration form by contacting the NSW SES Mid North Coast Region Headquarters on 6592 5800 or emailing mnr.admin@one.ses.nsw.gov.au