Communities throughout Byron Shire are now more resilient to disasters, with portable Starlink dishes being rolled out across Bangalow, Federal, Goonengerry, Mullumbimby, South Golden Beach, Upper Coopers Creek and Wilsons Creek.
Sarah Boulle, Council’s Recovery Coordinator, said there was an ‘obvious communication failure during the 2022 floods, which left pockets of the Byron Shire isolated and people unable to communicate with emergency services’.
Back-up communications
‘This is a safety risk and we wanted to mitigate this by providing a back-up communications system for these communities,’ Ms Boulle said.
‘These Starlink systems, which come with portable, back-up power equipment, will allow community resilience groups to connect to the internet or use their smart phones to call 000 for emergency assistance and to get access to emergency warnings and disaster information.
‘The Starlink systems and the associated equipment are on loan to community resilience groups to be used in the event of an emergency,’ she said.
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