By Taylah Eastwell
Triple zero (000) is usually the one number anyone can call. A lifeline, regardless of coverage. But on Wednesday 9 June, residents of the Dandenong Ranges were left stranded, cut off from help by road, and also by reception.
Lilydale SES unit controller Shaun Caulfield said one of the biggest issues for the SES on the night of Wednesday 9 June was the “sheer volume of calls” which only slowed down “because people couldn’t actually call because they were losing their telecommunications infrastructure”.
“What we understand, from talking to people, is that after that first five or six hours it wasn’t less people in need of help, it was less people that could call, and that’s caused a lot of community concern,” Mr Caulfield said.
Speaking to residents of the Hills, the changeover to the NBN network replaced or reduced the ability to use a landline.
“One of the biggest issues is the infrastructure is not working, not just the power, they don’t have a phone, pre-NBN they might of at least still had the landline. The old phone network ran off batteries and used power and could run for a lot longer than the NBN-based phone will work without power, so there is less time before the infrastructure becomes inoperable these days,” he said.
“People are noticing a lot quicker that they don’t have their phones as we as a society have become quite attached to tech, so when it’s not there you really notice and something like lack of communications infrastructure makes people already affected feel very vulnerable,” he said.
Gembrook woman Merryn Coates said knowing her phone is likely to be cut off during an emergency makes her feel “like a sitting duck”.
“In Gembrook, we had power out, we were otherwise very lucky but when I woke up Thursday morning I thought I would check what was going on. My phone showed there was supposed to be reception but there was no connection.
“It’s honestly terrifying, if we had an emergency or our son had an asthma attack we would have no way to call 000. Someone tried the payphone and that wouldn’t even work. Emergencies don’t just stop happening and it’s not just people affected by disaster, what about those in family violence situations, or elderly people who might have a fall,” Ms Coates said.
After getting reception, Ms Coates put a post on social media and was alerted by other residents that there is a “battery back-up” NBN customers can purchase to allow for phone coverage during these events.
“Someone said there is a battery back up you can get that will charge up when you do have power and works to power your router so you at least have phone coverage,” she said.
Emerald and Cockatoo Community Support Team leader Rachelle Mechielsen discussed the coverage issue briefly with Acting Premier James Merlino during a visit to Emerald following the storm.
“He was really sympathetic but obviously didn’t have an immediate answer,” Ms Mechielson said.
“You didn’t know if the next tree was going to come through yours or your neighbours house and if anyone required emergency assistance, we had no way of getting it. And that’s just people without existing issues, someone might have been pregnant or undergoing chemo or an asthmatic, and there was just nothing,” she said.
Ms Mechielson said emergency alerts “are critical” for disaster prone areas like the Dandenongs, but “with no mobile signal you can’t even get the alerts so you just don’t know what’s happening”.
“As team leader of the emergency support team trying to liaise with other locals I couldn’t even make a phone call, I was having to send people to pass messages on which wasn’t ideal with the dangerous state of the roads,” she said.
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, following Black Saturday, handed down a recommendation that agencies enhance the delivery of warnings from emergency services through mobile phones.
“We’ve had the Royal Commission, yet it’s still happening,” Ms Coates said, with reception an issue still affecting fire-prone communities of the Hills even when there isn’t wild weather.
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp told media on Tuesday 15 June that “we do need to look” at the state of our communications.
“We know that what we see with telecommunications infrastructure is the towers have a battery back up of 24 hours. I think we need to look at extending that but as you would imagine with any major emergency we will and already have undertaken some reviews in relation to what we need to focus on into the future and we continue to need to look into telecommunications,” Mr Crisp said.
Ms Mechielson says the Hills deserve “much more reliable” communications, whether it be battery back ups or a different technology altogether.
A Telstra spokesperson said crews have restored connectivity to nearly 60 communities that may have been isolated and unable to call 000 after the storm caused widespread power outages and impacted fixed line and mobile services.
“Because of the scale of the damage, we prioritised restoration efforts to bring some connectivity back to communities that may have been isolated and unable to call 000, then we had to ensure we maintained our larger network sites and looked after medical priority customers,” the spokesperson said.
