Nuff Nuff

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The RECEIVED ONLY TXT Messages of Black Saturday

08.02.09 06.11hrs
Good to hear about your parents. From the Vic Roads Man, Number Declined

08.02.09 07.29hrs
Thanks for message. A (W’s daughter)

08.02.09 11.59hrs
Appreciate message: unable to contact W

09.02.09 10.03hrs
Hope mum and dad OK. My brother lost his home in Kinglake. GL

09.02.09 13.07hrs
Hey hope you and you family is okay. If you need anything let me know. I’m here to help

12.02.09 18.21hrs
Hi H, thank-you for getting D&M to visit R. She appreciates the visits so much.

12.02.09 18.34hrs
Thank-you so much from all our family. Our community will get through this because of the generosity of people such as yourself and your family. Keep me posted and good luck always.

And the First EVER TXT message sent out by Fire Authorities
02.03.09 15.21hrs
Extreme weather in Vic expect Mon night & Tues. High wind & fire risk. Listen to Local ABC Radio for emergency updates. Do not reply to this message

There were many more messages (32 in all) but they were obviously in reply to messages I sent out and they would make little sense because they are out of context.

That period of time for about 3 months was a blur – little existed in my life except work and struggling to cope with what I saw and what I did and the difference I supposedly made. I can’t believe that one person (me) made any difference, but apparently I did.

Stay safe this summer and remember don’t take life for granted – it has more value than money.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have kept my Vic Pol warning of a bad day. Don't know why.

Heather said...

Andrew, I don't remember setting these texts aside - I was looking at cleaning out my phone and I found a seperate folder labelled 'Fires' and I realised what they were.
Half those messages are from people that I didn't know (and still have not met) They were responding to the messages that I sent out at the request of family.
The first one being the reply to the request from the 'Vic Roads' man who must have called me and only got my message service.
I remember calling far-flung places and before doing so - trying to format a response to questions that I knew would be asked - I had to answer the questions without telling what I already knew - I had to wait for the officials to contact them.
As for WHY I kept that last message in March????? - Your guess is as good as mine.