Methodist Disaster Response, more on the changes coming?

  For those in governmental positions, disaster response is comparative to the blind men describing an elephant from their various perspectives.  On one end, some individuals do not want any volunteers at disaster incidents; others don’t mind trained volunteers if they can take care of themselves (local contact, own food, water, and shelter); and at the other end some local individuals are attempting to train as many volunteers as they can possibly find.  For example, the Fire Chief at Gulfport, Ms. is training as many volunteers as possible.  As a result of Katrina, He lost three fire stations, all communications, and many of his staff lost their homes.  He is rebuilding for the next incident.

  Most of those that don’t want any volunteers are specialized groups: medical teams, transportation, etc. who would have little contact with volunteers and have worked together for a number of disasters.

  The above middle ground for faith-based organizations, a specific destination, we take care of ourselves and don’t cause problems for others and ourselves, is where the Conference disaster organizations are headed. This will require some minimal level conference training plus the NIMS training covered last month. 

  Since our teams are self-sufficient, there are two new areas to consider: first aid and communication capability.  First aid means carrying a well-equipped first kit and one or more people on the team who know how to use it.  We already require that the team leader have a medical sheet on each person on the team and carry with him when responding to incidents.    

  Communications has its own issues.  The physical issue is that after wide area disasters, telephones and cell phones don’t work; portable 2-way and citizen’s band radios will work but have limited range.  In local disasters, the cell phone lines are jammed with traffic.  So the only option that works in all situations, the short wave radio.  The Morse code requirement was dropped in February 2007 so it is fairly easy to pass the technician level course now.  The government issue is that reports need to be completed daily detailing what teams are where and how many people.  So there needs to be some communication with the Conference or the local EMA on a daily basis to handle the reporting requirement, address problems, and pass on information that would be of use to teams that are preparing to activate. 

  The third option, i.e. the Gulfport Fire Chief, is developing the local (city/county) contact with the Emergency Management Director is a new relationship that is being encouraged.  Disasters start as a local incident, and when the jurisdiction runs out of resources help is provided from surrounding counties via mutual aid agreements.  If there is still a resource problem, state help is requested, then federal.  This process may take three to five days to roll out. There are many more local incidents than those that require state or federal assistance. 

     Starting with 2008, local EMA’s will be performing at least two exercises each year and will be required to use several agencies in these exercises.  These will be excellent training events for your disaster team.