Office of Disciples Volunteering
Planning Disaster Response Worktrips and other thoughts on Disaster
Response
Sometimes the quickest action may not be the best action
when responding to a disaster. Consider these points:
- You must be flexible with site and type
of work.
In the rebuilding after a disaster, things happen daily
... permits are held up or given out "en mass."
There are lots of volunteers one month and none the
next. Homes must dry out and get approved for rebuilding
totally dependent on the whims of the particular inspector
in that community. There is no way to know six months
in advance exactly where you will go or what you will
be doing. So ...
- Pick a date, get on a schedule, make
plans and be flexible.
Closer to that date, you'll get info about housing,
work, etc. Do not demand details the locals cannot possibly
give you. If people in your congregation cannot work
without these known facts, DO NOT PLAN A DISASTER RESPONSE
WORKTRIP! There are plenty of other places set up for
groups. This is different!
- If you want to send clothes ...
"DON'T" (Quote from disaster workers in Oklahoma
City). They get overwhelmed with used clothes and have
no place to store them. It's much more helpful to send
money and let them buy the needed clothes. There is
always a disaster within a disaster when boxes and boxes
of used clothes are sent. This is not helpful. But,
if you MUST ... Go to K-mart (or some other similar store)
and buy underwear and socks. Hard to hear but true!
- Free Legal Services needed.
If there are lawyers in your congregation who can give
some time, this is invaluable! Poor families cannot
afford to fight legal battles. They are often involved
in lumber fraud or contractors come in who are frauds ... home
gets started and contractors leave. Or homes are built
with poor design or labor and there is a need for legal
assistance.
- Why is giving money so important? Church building lost:
they lose more than a building. They lose the congregation
... have started over somewhere else ... family gone ...
etc. This means they do not have the income to sustain
rebuilding and ongoing work of the church. FEMA is relief
effort. Often the most they can get is $13,000. This does
not go far if the husband is in the hospital for three months.
They use it to pay those bills and haven't even begun
to rebuild home. RECOVERY is when it all starts ... after
FEMA is gone. Debris: What do you do with it? The government
stops picking it up after one to two months. Trucks and
drivers must be paid after that. HUD Disaster: There is
so much paperwork to get HUD help that you NEVER qualify
for, families finally give up trying. There is no money,
then to help rebuild and the family remains homeless.
Red Cross can build five houses while an Interfaith can
build 200 ... it's the long term presence that makes a
difference and the local involvement. Our gifts go to
support local interfaiths.
- Some other thoughts on disasters: Half of the people
in communities destroyed do not come back. All families
are affected: either they were directly "hit"
by the disaster or their friends or family were. Gifts
of the Heart Kits are a welcome sight in disaster zones.
Flood clean-up kits, health kits, layettes, etc. All are
shared throughout the community and are ALWAYS needed
in the warehouse. Send to the warehouse any time and they
will be shipped after a disaster anywhere in the world.
There is a real need for kits of all kinds right now.
Mobilize your church to put them together now and send
to CWS! (More information on www.weekofcompassion.org)
The worst phone call those dealing with a disaster can receive is: "Here's what we're doing, when
we are coming ... we need housing, showers and we need to
know now what work we will be doing." (Whose disaster
is it, anyway?) OR "We've just sent a semi-truck
full of furniture (clothes, dishes, etc) your way. It
will be there tomorrow." The pastor then must find
and pay for storage and find people to unload it.
The best phone call is, "How and when can we be of assistance."
Always remember we are called to serve and be faithful.
Sometimes that means waiting until invited to come. Sometimes
that means doing work we don't want to do. Sometimes that
means ...
Always it means responding to God's call
and finding yourself immersed in the Spirit and changing
lives.
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