PARTS of North Central Victoria that were flooded in January may now have been baked dry by the sun, but efforts repair damage are still very much underway. <\/p>\n
Disaster recovery organisation BlazeAid set up a camp at Goornong at the start of February to look after those who volunteered to assist with the recovery. <\/p>\n
Camp coordinator Graeme Allen has a background in project management and has been involved with BlazeAid for the five years since the Black Summer bushfires in East Gippsland. <\/p>\n
He said the camp has 50 properties on its list to work on, and volunteers come for between one day to a couple of months to help out. <\/p>\n
Work is expected to be completed towards the end of March, and people have come from far and wide to help. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey come from all over the place,\u201d said Mr Allen. \u201cSome are new to BlazeAid, and some people are volunteers who come back to camps time and time again. <\/p>\n
\u201cPrimarily people come because they want to help others. <\/p>\n
\u201cBlazeAid essentially comes in to sort of help the community, just to feel that there is someone helping them and caring for them. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some properties that have been fairly badly damaged, and some of the people are unwell or disabled and they just can\u2019t do it.\u201d <\/p>\n
The camp is funded by donations and the work largely involves fixing fences.<\/p>\n
Retiree, Keith Colshan from Bendigo, said he started volunteering with BlazeAid after the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires that swept across the state. <\/p>\n
He said he was volunteering at Goornong one day a week because he has volunteer commitments on other days. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quit fulfilling getting fences back up and clearing up for farmers,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
While most are volunteers, German backpackers Jonas Rausch and Alina Simon arrived in Bendigo last weekend and were sent to help out by contractor Jay Brady of Brady & Partners Construction Group. <\/p>\n
Mr Rausch said the money they earn will go towards their Australian travels. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s surprising that the river is quite lower than it was when the flood happened,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Germany, we had a flood last year, but it\u2019s very uncommon. <\/p>\n
\u201cI like the idea to work to help other people, so that\u2019s kind of the best thing that could happen to us.\u201d <\/p>\n
It was Caleb Winchester\u2019s first day with BlazeAid and said he was volunteering on his day off. <\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I\u2019d come help out because the damage was pretty bad and just to fill in and help fix it out because a lot of people were hurt.”<\/p>\n
Retired firefighter Mal Stepnell lives on a farm in the area and said he could sympathise with the people affected. <\/p>\n
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