Flood Victims 2011
The Impact of Recent Natural Disasters on Business Between Australia and Russia
The full impact of the January 2011 floods in Queensland will be impossible to quantify in the short to medium term. Perhaps an accurate monetary amount can never be calculated. But make no mistake, this is a natural disaster of huge domestic significance, and its aftershocks will also be felt overseas.
What was – just a few weeks ago – a localized problem for central Queensland, has grown in size and importance for the entire length of the eastern seaboard of Australia.
In the midst of the horror of lost lives and massive damage to land and property, many have already forgotten the disruptive floods that recently struck the coast of Western Australia.
The damage from the 2011 floods to the Queensland economy will no doubt run into the billions of dollars. Enormous amounts of infrastructure have been badly affected in the coal and food producing regions of Queensland. Some has been completely ruined and will have to be rebuilt from scratch – especially dedicated coal train lines and other industrial structures.
Compare this with a situation in Russia that is still fresh in the memory. The peat fires in central Russia in the summer of 2010 were a massive blow to the economy of this BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nation. Russian authorities are – theoretically – well equipped in a bureaucratic sense, with the powerful Ministry of Emergency Situations (EMERCOM), set up under Boris Yeltsin in the mid 1990s, ready to deal with such problems. It has numerous departments, committees and boards so beloved of Russian officialdom.
How did Russia cope with these ravaging peat fires?
Some estimates put the number of victims at between 50,000 and 60,000 lives lost – due to smoke inhalation and the simultaneous heat-wave. In dollar terms, losses of crops, buildings and other infrastructure were also astronomically high. Nevertheless, great strides have since been taken to rebuild after this disaster, with large investments coming from both government and private sectors. Russia is slowly recovering from this tragedy, as will Australia from its own.
One very interesting point of difference was the local media coverage during the disasters in each country. In Queensland, state and federal leaders gave regular and detailed press conferences which kept the population informed. By contrast, and not surprisingly, the Russian fires were not given "real time" coverage, and secrecy was enforced in many instances.
What is certain, however, is that many lessons have and will be learned as a result of both of these calamitous events, and it will be – eventually – business as usual between these two nations of global importance.
Politically, in Australia, public funds (i.e. tax money) will be funneled as a priority towards the reconstruction of Brisbane's, Queensland's and, indeed, Australia's lost infrastructure. Moreover, millions of dollars will need to be spent on ecological rehabilitation (as was the case in Russia post fires) of waterways and other sensitive areas. The clean-up of Moreton Bay alone will be a task of mammoth scale.
For the near future, it would be fairly safe to assume that economic cooperation and investments between Australia and Russia will continue, however a more modest level of growth can be expected in the wake of each country's devastating natural disasters.
About the Author
Blair Denholm is a NAATI Professional Accredited Translator with a wealth of experience as a translator of the Russian language. He has an honors degree in Russian language and literature from the University of Queensland, and a diploma from the A.S. Pushkin Institute in Moscow.
Blair Denholm offers a full range of translation and consultancy services.
QR's Flood Victims (Brisbane Flood Graffiti Movie 2011) Part 1/3