Develop Emergency Resiliance

Rhian Evans, Chair of the Morvern Resilience Group, has provided the following update on Morvern’s Resilience Strategy:

“Following Storm Amy, and the impact it had on Lochaline and Drimnin communities, a Morvern Resilience Group has been established. The aim of the group is to try to improve preparedness for extreme weather and other events that may impact the communities of Morvern in the way of loss of power, communication, water and road access by learning from what happened during storm Amy and other climate related incidents that have posed challenges for the community in the past.

The group will work alongside Highland Council, NHS Highland, the Emergency services and other local resilience groups in Lochaber to plan and prepare for such events, and to try to minimise the impact on the community, especially the more vulnerable amongst us.

We are currently working on a resilience plan which will formalise any action that will take place in advance of future events, and will allow us to apply for funding and support these actions.

Priorities would include ensuring accessibility to power, warmth, food and communication for the community during such events by provision of fuel, generators, internet, and also how to reach every member of the community in the event of a loss of phone line communication. A big part of this is encouraging households to proactively prepare for such events with advice provided by Highland Council and NHS.” 

The group is currently made up of representatives from Morvern Community Council, Morvern Community Development Company, Lochaline Village Hall, Drimnin Village Hall, Scottish Fire & Rescue and HM Coastguard.

As well as responding reactively to weather and climate events, the group is looking to further develop resilience within the community by establishing a community first responders group and to deliver CPR sessions that members of the community will be able to participate in. We will continuously look for further opportunities to build on the existing resilience of the communities of Morvern by offering opportunities to develop skills and deliver training locally.”