An appeal has been launched by Ballarat locals to help people in Ainaro in East Timor after Cyclone Seroja devastated the area.
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At least 10 people have reportedly died as a result of the storm in the region, which has strong ties to the Ballarat community.
Rosemary King is the chair of the Ballarat Friends of Ainaro Health Group, having first visited the area as a midwife in 2005.
It's a calamity for them and it's going to roll out over months and months and months. There will be a long tail as a consequence of this
- Rosemary King, Chair Ballarat Friends of Ainaro Health Group
She called the current situation, which has seen widespread destruction and flooding, a "profound blow" for an area that had started to make progress following its independence.
As well as having a very stretched health service with limited resources, the area's geography would make the clear-up operation very challenging, Ms King said.
"We are all very concerned," she told The Courier. "We are very aware of the fragility of the environment - it's a very remote and mountainous area."
With the ongoing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said challenges for the area would be compounded by the damage wreaked by Cyclone Seroja, which could cause water contamination issues and increase food insecurity. Ms King, a lecturer at the School of Health at Federation University, said that basic shelter was also likely to be an issue.
"It's a calamity for them and it's going to roll out over months and months and months. There will be a long tail as a consequence of this.
"There will be a lot of communities that will be completely cut off."
Ballarat teachers, health workers and aid workers are among the groups who have forged deep links with the area both before and after East Timor - also known as Timor Leste - gained its independence in 1999.
Ainaro is one of the poorest areas of the country.
The Sisters of Mercy have long been involved in helping the region, while Damascus School and Ballarat Grammar School have run numerous visits with their students to the area.
The City of Ballarat signed a friendship agreement with Ainaro in 2003, and a number of councillors have since been to the region.
In 2009, the city's then mayor Judy Verlin and then editor of The Courier Angela Carey went on a delegation to the country to see some of the projects in the region for themselves.
Ms King encouraged people to help the area financially if they could.
"A little bit of money can go a very long way in Timor Leste," she said. "It's a wonderful community, it's struggled at the best of times over the last few decades."
- To donate, see the Ainaro Cyclone Relief GofundMe page here
- CLARIFICATION: A supplied image used in the print version of this story was not of the Ainaro region. This image has been removed from the online version.
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