Disaster Relief

List serve response to questions about getting “invited” to go help with Katrina Relief:

My slightly edited responses to questions asked below:

I think I can answer the question raised about "an invitation."

As part of our SC's disaster plan, we are part of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC, for those of us in government.) Through EMAC, states send out requests to other states for various tasks that they need help with, and for various skill sets that will help them in their recovery. DHEC has received EMAC requests to assist in a number of ways, including hydrogeology ("what's up wit' the water, dude?"), epidemiology and medical care of displaced persons.

Recovery Teams are being assembled and logistics are being planned. As you can see from news coverage, teams in many areas will have to be self-sustaining. This means bringing our own food, water, gas, bedding, toilet facilities(?), etc., PLUS all the supplies needed to DO what we are asked to do. Areas also have to be safe enough to enter (not just lawful, but also no longer under imminent threat of rising water, etc.)

P. and I (any others out there?) have let our supervisors know that we are willing to serve. As our particular skill sets are needed, we may be asked to join an EMAC team headed for the gulf coast. There will likely be a number of teams heading out soon and over the next 4-6 months.

Take-home Point: One of the essentials in disaster recovery is ORGANIZATION: from delivery of supplies to deployment and receiving of support personnel. Kind-hearted people who suddenly appear at a site have good intentions, but may not be self-sustaining, and may end up needing rescuing themselves. This is, sadly, one of the reasons it has taken National Guard and Air Force groups 3-4 days to get to NOLA. They had to be able to get there, land planes with supplies and set up field
operations.

Incidentally, I am more likely to end up in Alabama, Northern Mississippi, or Texas; P. is more likely to end up in southern Mississippi or Louisiana.

G wrote:

P--thanks so much for sharing your thoughts!

What exactly are you waiting for an invitation to do? With which group? When will you know? Do fill us in. And of course, rest assured of my prayers, our prayers. Your commitment to serving those in need is most inspiring!

Paula had written:

Hi friends,

In striking Michelle-esque style, I've tossed my name in the hat to help with relief efforts in MS and LA... well, less "tossed" than "placed deliberately."

I lay awake in bed last night after watching the news - it was the first time I've had the tv on in weeks (HP and all) - thinking of ways I could get to LA to hand one thirsty person a bottle of water, and I woke up this morning to the news that SAR workers had been called off their duties to fight rampant looting.

This morning I read my e-mails at work in tears. The last one was a request for volunteers to join the relief effort in kind. Hopefully in the next couple months I'll be devising clean-up schemes to get sewage out of people's homes and get underground storage tank leaks under control. I have to admit, I feel more qualified to fetch coffee or help build a make-shift shelter than be a geologist in that place, but I think I just have to go, whatever the task. I know I'm lucky to be in a position where I can leave town for a couple weeks and shake dirty hands with the people in the front lines - and I may never have the opportunity again.

So the real reason I'm telling you this is to ask for your prayers for the people making decisions about forming our teams, for my own strength while I wait for an invitation, and of course for those who need the Body of Christ most right now.