Evacuees fight over food in safe house while sheltering from Cyclone Yasi
Kym Agius
The Daily Telegraph
February 02, 2011 6:40PM
A FOOD shortage has gripped a Cairn's evacuation centre, with police and security brought in to calm ravenous evacuees fighting for Red Cross food parcels this afternoon.
About 2500 people have crammed into the makeshift evacuation centre at one of Cairns' shopping centres.
Food shortages, a power black out and a scary night ahead are feared as Cyclone Yasi barrels towards north Queensland.
The vast majority of these Queenslanders displaced and now living in evacuation shelters are not Muslims or illegal entrants,they are simply people who would call themselves Australians first second and last.
Can you imagine the outrage if it was discovered that Illegal Middle Eastern entrants who are presently colonizing Australia under the Labor /Green Loon / Independent Union Financed Socialist Minority Federal Governments open borders immigration policy were having to fight each other for food inside the Five Star Hotels the Australian Labor Party houses them in,in Queensland once they breech Australia's borders and demand citizenship.
Queensland’s favorite son Lu Kewan aka. Kevin 07 is presently writing cheques for any Middle Eastern / African despot who wants one in order to ensure his elevation to a temporary,2 year, seat on the the Australian Labor Party’s masters United Nations Security Council,no cheques for food for Australians however,maybe “Julia” or the “Real Julia” could throw a few crumbs their way after she and her fellow Socialist grubs finish their dinner.
Row upon row of people are lying in the food court of the Earlville Shopping Centre, in an area of the mall designated by owners, Stockland, as the safest to ride out Category 5 cyclones, with the expectation of winds topping 290km/hr.
Centre manager Paul Kelsey said they were only asked to open their doors to evacuees on Tuesday afternoon, and the thousands that have sought refuge have caught them off guard.
He said the biggest task underway is to coordinate food.
"We've all been taken a bit by surprise," Mr Kelsey told AAP.
"What we're actually trying to do now is feed people."
Only two of the centre's fast-food restaurants agreed to open, and lines were stretching more than 40 people deep.
Some hungry, or under-prepared, evacuees became quite cunning when Red Cross food parcels started being handed out.
The 50-strong crowd rushed and swarmed the volunteers slightly nudging each other to get their hands on food.
Police and security quickly moved in to bring law and order, and soon the ravenous crowd agreed to form two lines.
Only two pallets of food had been delivered for the evacuees by early Wednesday afternoon, Mr Kelsey said.
Woolworths has agreed to supply two meals per evacuee and it is hoped a similar agreement will be put in place with Coles.
Cairns City Council Mayor Val Schier said more food is on the way.
"I'm confident there will be enough food," she told AAP.
The defence force has 5000 ration packs, which will be distributed to the evacuation centres by Thursday morning.
Power is expected to be lost in the Earlville shopping centre, descending the area into a ghostly darkness as the cyclone rages during the night.
Sharni Neville said she's expecting the mood to turn to fear when the lights go out.
"Just the darkness and the noise," she told AAP.
She and her family evacuated their Edmonton, besser-block house at 8am.
"We just weren't confident at home," she said.
"It went through Cyclone Larry, so I'm not sure what was weakened, plus there's nowhere to hide in the house."
Ms Neville said the boredom is setting in and that has the potential to cause trouble, no matter how amusing.
She said one adventurous boy climbed into a very large toy-dispensing machine, the one you use the claw to win the prize.
As soon as the boy started celebrating his feat - from within the machine - police once again descended and rained on his parade.
"It was about 10 minutes of entertainment," Ms Neville said.
