Now Bendigo Community Health Services has created a resources hub to ensure people with a refugee background know what to do in floods, bushfires and extreme heat.

The hub includes Bushfire and Summer Safety Refugee Resource Hub hand outs and videos for people to help them stay safe.

BCHS manager of cultural diversity and relations Kaye Graves said the team has created a suite of emergency preparedness for people with refugee backgrounds in three languages - Karen, Dinka and Dari.

"A lot of what is produced and translated (for refugees) is too complex, not localised and not delivered by a trusted local person," she said.

"We started doing emergency preparedness last year and have partnered with the City of Greater Bendigo, the Bendigo SES and the CFA, who are the content experts, and with people who speak the languages."

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The hub has had more than 11,000 hits since it launched before Christmas.

Ms Graves said organisations in Nhill, the Wimmera, Werribee and Ringwood have reached out to BCHS about their resource hub.

"This is trailblazing, ground breaking work," Ms Graves said. "No one else in the state doing this."

BCHS humanitarian and casual work Nido said when he arrived in Australia, he had never seen the type of flash flooding that happens in Australia.

"We know we need to have education about floods and we work with the refugee community to educate them about the floods," he said. "We work closely with the SES and use a local trusted person to deliver the information.

"I never thought a car could float in 15cm of water but it happens, so we need to educate people who come here about the seriousness of floods.

"We received a lot feedback to say its helpful to receive information through social media and by audio-visuals."

Last week, the hub's flood preparedness proved useful for Bendigo people with refugee backgrounds as 60mm of rain fell in the region.

"We focused on flood preparedness because we know when people come to Australia, it's a new environment," Ms Graves said. "Flood activity here is different to flood activity in Afghanistan, Burma or the refugee camps in Kenya and South Sudan.

"For people that have arrived from other countries with a refugee background, those messages (from the state government and the SES) are foreign to them. They're in English (and) the Vic Emergency app is in English. So we try to demystify what's happening."

For more information on the BCHS Bendigo Bushfire and Summer Safety Refugee Resource Hub visit www.bchs.com.au/blog/710-bendigo-bushfire-and-summer-safety-refugee-resource-hub

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