The Disasterous Dinner is a community education tool that aims to help people prepare to face a disaster situation in a fun and unique way.
The idea came about after discussions within QYAC following the horrific 2019-2020 Australian bushfire season as we reflected on personal stories with family members who had experienced the fires. Talking together, to the community, and other Red Cross volunteers we realised that many people simply weren’t prepared for the situation. We realized that perhaps traditional disaster preparation messaging doesn’t work for everyone and wanted to create something different. We knew that it would need to be community-focused and engaging and eventually landed on the concept of an interactive dinner party.
So how does it work?
The Diasterous Dinner takes guests on a participatory journey through each of the key sections within the Red Cross’ Get Prepared app that assists people to create a personal preparedness plan. The dinner host receives a guide with all the important information, an event plan and a script to guide their guests through the dinner and at the end of the dinner event, each guest will have developed a personal disaster plan and possess an understanding of the potential hazards in their area.
For example, during the main course guests are given a minute each to write down two lists – an emergency kit packing list and precious items packing list. We then discuss, without a plan in place, would they be able to safely locate and quickly take these items with them if they had to evacuate their home (most often the answer has been no). After the dinner party, we also offer a post-event checklist and tips to help the host stay connected with their community and keep each guest accountable to maintain their preparedness plan as well.
Coming into the project we understood that we were creating in a space where many talented experts have been working for decades and wanted to develop a resource from a youth perspective that aimed to make disaster preparedness fun and help people build a sense of community. As volunteers, we are also honoured to have been supported widely through the Australian Red Cross community – including RedXYouth, the Mobilisation Hub, the Emergency Services team and volunteers from across the country who provided user testing to help us to perfect the resource to share with the wider Australian community.
We hope that you will join us to Eat, Drink and Get Prepared!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrge1Np2_bc
