What would you do if you landed in a foreign country where the weather was different from home and you did not speak the language?
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Now, what if a bushfire were to break out? Where would you go? How would you find out emergency information? Who would you contact?
New arrivals landing with "little or zero knowledge of Australian weather" are being helped to navigate natural disasters with Q&A sessions in Bendigo.
CFA, SES and Bendigo council have been working to overcome barriers to getting help, including that most emergency information is in English, by holding information sessions with groups.
The scheme, now in its fourth year, looks at fires, floods and storms in various languages and more than 600 former refugees Afghanistan, South Sudan and Karen people of Myanmar, formerly Burma have done the program.
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More than 600 former refugees Afghanistan, South Sudan and Karen people of Myanmar have done the program, now in its fourth year, which looks at fires, floods and storms in various languages.
"(The initiative) is very, very vital because the people come to Australia with little or zero knowledge of Australian weather," he said.
"The weather they come from is not like the weather in Australia.
"Language is also an issue, when all the information is sent out they are sent out in English and the (refugees) find it very challenging."
Nido said given the major bushfires of 2019/20 and the extensive flooding last year it was more important than ever to make sure everyone in the community knew what to do in an emergency.
Bendigo Community Health Service senior leader for refugee culture and diversity, Kaye Graves, said a strength of the plan was that its development was done with those who it was designed to help.
"I really want to emphasise this program is an authentically co-designed project," she said.
"We consult with former refugee groups and ethnicities to really inform the project.
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Ms Graves said the reason people who spoke Karen, Dari and Dinka languages were targeted in particular was because they were groups which mainly formed Bendigo's former refugee population.
She said the program was delivered to allow them to become "champions" of their local communities and help guide people through any potential future disaster.
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