Disaster relief is all about “doing the most good for the most people”. Time and resources are limited. Action is needed. You can help! Disaster relief is one of the most rewarding volunteer opportunities you can take part in. Your first deployments can be intimidating, though. To help with that, we’re going to cover some basic steps and questions to help you on your journey as a disaster responder.
There are two rules that have likely been drilled into your head since you began training. They are:
DO NOT SELF-DEPLOY
Self-deployment is when you respond to a disaster without being asked by an organization or agency. When a disaster happens, disaster groups will send out an alert so volunteers know when the group needs help and where to respond. This does not mean you should drive straight there. Each organization has a system. It may be a chaotic system, but you must follow their process.
They may ask you to be on standby (have your bag packed), to send in your availability, or to stand down. Being told to stand down could mean anything from they have enough help to they won’t be responding. Standing down can be disappointing. You’re more likely to deploy if you have cross-trained in multiple disaster response specialties (like chainsaw, mudout, mass feeding, sheltering, etc.)
STAY FLEXIBLE
Disaster relief is an ever-developing effort with a million unique pieces. Things change, weather changes, needs change, and plans change, every second. I feel well-informed during a disaster when more than half of the information I am told is correct. It doesn’t mean you’re working with a poor team when what you are supposed to do changes constantly. Things really change that much!
Preparing for your first disaster relief deployment–Before you go
We recommend you check out the following articles:
Finding information during a disaster
Preparing for your first mudout
One of the best things you can do to prepare for a disaster response is to find someone who has been deployed before. They’ll know all the ins and outs of the organizations and tips specific to your role.
Make sure you have enough medication and are up to date on recommended vaccines (especially tetanus, if you’re working in debris). Electricity may not be available. You’ll need to be prepared to sleep without air conditioning or a fan. If you can’t sleep without a CPAP, wait until they restore power.
If the organization you are volunteering with is providing housing and transportation, they’ll need to know how long you can help. Ten days to three weeks is a typical commitment time. For many groups, a minimum of ten to fourteen days is a requirement to deploy.
Read the updates from your organization
You’ll get lots of updates, probably via email, about where you’re going and what you’ll be doing. Read the documents they send. They’ll provide a good summary of information specific to your organization.
It can be a challenge to keep up with the updates while getting ready, but these updates give the best information they can find. Much of the information may be outdated when you get there. Prepare for what they tell you, but be ready to adapt to the environment you find yourself in.
Prepare for what they tell you, but be ready to adapt to the environment you find yourself in.
Red Sky Ready
Packing for your first volunteer disaster relief deployment
Packing for disaster relief deployment can be a challenge. You don’t know what you’ll be walking into, electricity may be scarce, and additional items will be hard to find. When you pack for a large disaster, keep in mind that you can’t go to the nearest store and pick up what you need.
Packing is faster if you have a go-bag ready for deployments. A go-bag has most of the items you need to deploy already packed. You can add a couple of things to it and you’re ready to go! Make sure you pack the best clothes for the job. You may work in very warm or cold environments. Some volunteer jobs will be very messy as well.
Check the weather before you pack your clothes. I like to check the ten-day forecast and then look up the average highs and lows for the month if I am staying longer.
This is not the time to pack three suitcases. Volunteer organizations typically only cover one or two checked bags if they are providing air travel. Storage space can be tight when you’re carpooling and where you’ll be staying as well.
Driving yourself can give you extra luggage room and departure flexibility, but extra vehicles can become a big hassle in disaster zones. Leave your valuables at home.
Home
You need to arrange for someone to look after your home and pets/plants if you have them.
Having someone stop by once in a while to make sure everything is okay is an enormous relief while you’re focusing on the disaster.
You can pause your mail service if no one is available to pick up your mail.
Pausing the USPS won’t stop FedEx, Amazon, and UPS deliveries. They’re still bringing the 300 items you ordered for the trip that didn’t make it on time…
Current events
Watching the news is a great way to verify some of what the organization sent you in your deployment messages. Having several sources of information gives you a more robust expectation of what you’ll be walking into.
Local news will cover the stories in more depth.
Check out our Disaster Dashboard for current weather watches, warnings, and more.
Preparing for your first disaster relief deployment–When you arrive
What will you see when you arrive to help in a disaster?
Disasters produce some of the most heartbreaking images on the news. The level of destruction and departure from everything our brains understand as normal is difficult for us to comprehend. Now, what you are looking at isn’t on the news. You’re seeing it in real life with your own eyes. The damage can be overwhelming as your mind tries to process what it sees.
You’ll likely see homes flooded, streets littered with debris, houses burned to the ground, or empty slabs of concrete where homes used to stand. It does not make you less of a disaster relief volunteer to be affected by the situations around you.
Each deployment can be different, though. There may be deployments and disaster relief roles where you never see the people you’re helping or the damage caused by the disaster. You are still playing a valuable role, even if it’s behind the scenes.
The earlier you go on a deployment, the more violent and chaotic the scene will be. Gradually, blocked roads turn to debris piles, holes in roofs turn into blue tarped roofs, damaged vehicles get towed away, and stores open up in some capacity.
As you deploy more, you’ll recognize the milestones affected areas reach in their recovery process.
Each person handles disasters differently. Seeing so much devastation and loss can be overwhelming for the survivors. They don’t know where to start and are trying to wrap their minds around what happened. This is one of the biggest ways you can help. Your arrival is a spark of hope for them.
Where do you sleep during disaster relief deployments?
Sleep? There’s no sleeping. This is a disaster! Okay, I’m just kidding, but only partially.
The higher up you are in management, the more likely your job will involve over eight to ten hours of work a day. A typical shift will run between seven and twelve hours. Your job hours will vary based on your role. Shelter workers take shifts around the clock. Mass feeding units may begin their shift anywhere from 10 pm to 5 am just to get lunch out on time. The incident commander is often up before six, preparing for the day.
Hotels
If Covid was good for anything, it was useful for a good night’s sleep during disaster relief. Tracking individuals’ exposure rates meant some nonprofits and disaster relief organizations began paying for a room for each individual volunteer. Hotels get expensive. If you’re deploying with a budget-minded group, don’t expect a hotel.
Hotel rooms can be very difficult to find during a disaster as well.
Churches, schools, stadiums, empty buildings
Churches are a very commonplace for disaster relief teams to sleep, especially for the religiously affiliated organizations. They’ll take over several rooms. Volunteers will be divided into classrooms or sleep in a sanctuary or gym. You won’t have your own room. You likely won’t be sharing a room with your spouse.
Your disaster relief team should tell you if you need to bring bedding. A compressible camp sleeping bag doesn’t take up much room. If bedding isn’t provided, you’ll want either an air mattress or a cot. Some church members might know which pew is the most comfortable to sleep in, though. My preference is a cot. It gives you a lot of extra room to store luggage underneath. It also doesn’t require electricity to inflate, or go flat part way through a deployment and leave you on the floor.
If you wake up often, grab a spot near the door. If you’re a light sleeper, head for the corner furthest from the door. Be on the lookout for outlets to charge your phone at night.
RVs, sleeping trailers, tents, and anywhere else
Sleeping accommodations can vary greatly by deployment and organization. It’s rare, but I have seen an organization that brought their own sleeping trailers. Some volunteers will bring an RV, typically later in deployments when road access and utilities are more reliable. Tents and partially damaged buildings can be used for shelter as well.
Things to consider bringing for a good night’s sleep
Sleeping in an unfamiliar environment with a bunch of volunteers can present a few problems. And trust me, some of those volunteers can snore! After a long hard day of work, your teammates will appreciate you getting all the beauty sleep you can. You might want to bring some of the following items:
Earplugs
Eye mask
Extension cord
Sleeping bag
Glow in the dark water bottle
Showers
Showers can be a luxury in disasters. In the beginning, city water may not be working or clean. Baptist Disaster Relief and Samaritan’s Purse both have shower units they bring with them for their volunteers. Red Cross volunteers are often in a hotel and use their showers. Ask your team what the expectation is. You may need to pack some extra wipes (not a bad idea anyway).
Don’t forget your shower shoes! Also, swimsuits are a great idea for a little extra modesty, depending on the shower situation (a bucket and a tarp around some trees?).
Laundry
Some shower units come with a washer and dryer. This isn’t a guarantee you can do your laundry. It may just be for washing their own towels. If you’re in a hotel or a city with power, you can bring a roll of quarters and scope out a machine.
I used to pack tide pods until I found Earth Breeze. They have completely dehydrated laundry soap into sheets. They’re lighter, pack easier, don’t pop, and best of all, they’re seven times less likely to be eaten by teenagers! (Please, don’t eat them.) Just toss one (laundry sheet, not teenager) in the wash with your clothes. No scoops, no pods, just a nice dry soap sheet. You can grab them through our affiliate link here.
What you’ll accomplish as a disaster relief volunteer
Volunteers are the backbone of disaster recovery. Without disaster relief volunteers, progress would be difficult to even see. Local and state resources are overwhelmed. Even if everyone could afford to have a professional mud out their home, repair their roof, or remove the trees and debris, there aren’t enough professionals to do it.
Other disaster relief volunteers help provide food and shelter. Again, they are resources that can’t adequately be covered by what is available. You’ll be just the person someone needs to see for a warm meal and a place to finally rest.
Returning home from a disaster relief deployment
Have a story ready. One recommendation is to have three versions ready to tell. When someone asks you how your trip was, have a three-second answer, a 30-second answer, and a three-minute answer. The three-second answer is for the elevator ride and the people just asking to be polite. The 30-second answer is for the people that are somewhat interested, and then the three-minute answer is your starting point to discuss everything you did for as long as they want to hear.
Disappointingly, most people only want the three-second version of your story. You’ll come back ready to tell everyone all the exciting things you did and no one will want an in-depth retelling. Have at least a couple of close people that will listen to the stories you have.
Give yourself time to rest and recover. Disaster relief is not only physically exhausting but mentally taxing as well. You’ve been in a high-stress environment, surrounded by physical and emotional pain. It can take some time to process.
There are a lot of emotions and thoughts you’ll have as you return home. We explore them in more detail in our article Returning Home.
How do I go again?
If you’re anything like me, the second you’re back home you’ll be asking “how can I deploy again?” This isn’t a bad thing; it doesn’t mean you are wishing for more disasters. Helping others is one of the most rewarding things anyone can do. It feels good and you want to do it more.
You’ve been given the opportunity to touch others’ lives and come alongside them on their recovery journey. You’ll find that not only are you able to bless others with your time and tireless work but that they bless you in return.
Repack your bags, stay available, and cross-train in different disaster relief areas (and with different groups) so you can deploy more often. By having a ready and willing attitude, you’ll find more volunteer jobs open up to you.
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If you or your group is driving make sure you keep your gas tank full as you get closer to your destination because depending on the disaster fuel will be scarce. Whether from people stocking up, trucks not able to get in, or power being out.
I very much appreciated the insight with a dash of humor lol. Thank you for sharing these valuable experiences and resources!