Many residents in the Port Douglas region will be eligible for Government assistance in the wake of Cyclone Yasi.


The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (AGDRP) has been initiated to assist people who have been adversely affected by the cyclone, and payments of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child will be made to eligible applicants.


So who is eligible? People who can receive this payment include:

    •    a person was seriously injured, or
    •    a person is the immediate family member of an Australian killed as a direct result of the disaster, or
    •    a person’s principal place of residence has been destroyed, or
    •    a person’s principal place of residence has sustained major damage, or
    •    a person is unable to gain access to their principal place of residence for a period of 24 hours or more, or
    •    a person is stranded in their principal place of residence for a period of 24 hours or more, or
    •    a person's principal place of residence was without electricity, water, gas, sewerage services or another essential service for at least 48 hours (a utility failure) and the utility failure was caused by damage to public or private infrastructure, or
    •    a person is a principal carer of a dependent child who has experienced any of the above.

While damage to property in our region was limited, many residents were forced to evacuate their homes for over a day to due the threat posed by high winds and a potential storm surge.

Port Douglas Chamber of Commerce vice president, Sam Cullen, said it was important to use the money wisely to get the maximum benefit.

"An injection into our local economy at the moment would help many businesses survive what may be a very hard February, March, April and perhaps May with recent events.
 
"The money people are eligible to is to help restock fridges and other perishable goods that a lack of power has brought about. These items all can be bought locally. Some of the money just might be part of a retail therapy solution after having to deal with the stress of power loss so this could be spent in Port Douglas as well.
 
"We hope people in the community overcome their losses quickly and we all commit to giving Port Douglas the best chance of a successful 2011," he said.

Centrelink social workers can provide counselling, support and information about services available so for more information on eligibility or if you have any queries, call Centrelink on 180 22 66 seven days a week between 8am to 8pm.

Alternatively information on how to claim can be found at Centrelink's Community Recovery web page.