Volunteers Can Help Communities Prepare For Disasters
Have you stocked up on hurricane supplies and prepared your hurricane plan? If you and your family are ready for hurricane season why not consider the next step of helping your neighborhood and community.
Although, disasters typically bring people out in the community to help their neighbors, why wait until after the event. Volunteerism can minimize personal and community losses through planning and training.
Conducting informal neighborhood planning or becoming a trained volunteer can help you reduce some of the pre-disaster anxiety. Before reaching out to others make sure that your family is prepared with a good communications plan. You can find many good family and household preparedness tips at Soutions for Your Life, the Red Cross or FloridaDisaster.org.
Take the time to work with your neighbors to find out who will need help evacuating, registering for special needs, or installing shutters. Working with neighbors can save lives and property. Meet with them to plan how the neighborhood could work together after a disaster until help arrives. Know your neighbors' special skills (e.g., medical, technical) and make plans to contact each other after the disaster.
Get trained now for disaster response! Trained volunteers are critical during and after a disaster strikes. Training is available from local disaster relief agencies.
Emergency Management Volunteers have become vital to disaster response and recovery. Monroe County trains local shelter and emergency operations volunteers.
Do not hesitate to be a volunteer just because you are not sure you can be available when needed. Agencies realize that volunteers sometimes have more important obligations. Also, all volunteers are considered "Good Samaritans" covered under the Volunteer Protection Act. Under the Volunteer Protection Act, volunteers assisting in an emergency are protected from being sued for making a mistake. If you want to volunteer as part of a hurricane or other disaster response, contact the Monroe County Emergency Management, Jerry O’Cathey at 305-289-6012 or e-mail.
Volunteers will be needed if we experience hurricanes again this year. According to Volunteer Florida, during the 2005-hurricane season 112,626 volunteers served 4.7 million hours. Get the most up to date statewide volunteer information at Volunteer Florida.
Volunteering helps keep our community connected. What kind of volunteer opportunities are there?
- Call center and rumor control (referring people to help in a disaster)
- Helping victims of a disaster
- Assisting in shelters or distributing essentials
- Data entry and office support during a disaster
Local groups looking for people who would be available to volunteer in a local disaster include; Red Cross Lower Keys 305-296-4033, Red Cross Upper Keys 305-852-9612, Paradise Interfaith Network 305-797-3926, Monroe County Emergency Management 305-289-6012 and the Salvation Army 305-294-5611.
Additional information on family and community development is available from UF/IFAS/Monroe County Extension Services, 1100 Simonton St. #2-260 Key West, Florida 33040, phone 305-451-4234 or e-mail us. Our services are free and available to all without regard to race, color, sex, or national origin.