How to Help in Disaster Relief Work Effectively

[This article is in response to my friend Susan Schuurman of Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center on how folks in Albuquerque can help with #HurricaneHarvey #harveyrelief #harveyrescue efforts. This article is applicable to disaster relief efforts in any country, any disaster.

I have worked on disaster relief efforts for 12 years in both United States and India. I conduct workshops on how to use Social Media in times of disaster. I am a founder-member for Indian citizen-led online initiative VOICE (Volunteers Online In Crisis and Emergencies). Our twitter handle is @incrisisrelief]

You see and read media reports of a disaster and you are moved. Wonderful. However, that is not a good reason to help with disaster relief. Help if you have the requisite skills, resources, networks, time to donate for the relief efforts.

Otherwise please donate money to an organization you trust and move on.

Sounds harsh? I meant it to be harsh. For disaster relief organization and work requires calm head over the shoulders and tangible and relevant skills. Else it becomes a human disaster and stresses folks who are doing effective work.

If you want to help in disaster relief work to appear noble and kind, drop the façade. It serves no one.

At this point, I assume you have the requisite skills, resources, networks, time to donate for the relief efforts. Cool. Gather or connect with like-minded and well-skilled folks and form a team. You can’t go solo on this unfortunately.

Now decide how you can best help. Dramatic media images and news stories evoke strong emotions and desire to act immediately. However, there is no point in “rushing” to give aid unless you are close to the location of disaster and have strong sense of the culture and geography.

Phase I is best left to local volunteer groups and federal agencies. What you can do is to scan data on relief activities and note gaps in the process. Either step in to fill those gaps where possible or raise alert. If the local group is not well-organized or human resources lacking, then consider stepping in.

Today’s fad is crisis mapping. If you know how to systematically collect, vet and organize data, please support the process. If data confuses you, step away. Clean usable reliable data is a challenge for crisis mappers. (For #harveyrescue, this is a reliable mapping effort à http://harveyrelief.handiworks.co/rescue-map)

I would suggest if you live in a region unaffected by disaster, then channelize your resources to prepare for Phase 2 of relief efforts. That phase when folks begin to transition back to their homes, schools and workplace. Ground volunteers who have been working round-the-clock during Phase I are tired and need replenishment. This is a good time to offer support. Also, this is the time when media coverage has ceased and help starts to water down.

To be effective, select which area your group can best help in. Check your team skillsets and experience, study the needs on ground. Listen to diverse reports. You may want to work with a specific population – say those who are physically challenged or those who are dependent on certain medicines or certain kinds of food. You may choose to focus on a particular ward and adopt it. Choose a small workable area/neighborhood and provide all materials/human resources needed for that area.

Connect with reliable ground agencies working in that ward or with that population and offer to collaborate. When you connect, be aware how you talk to them. You are offering help – great. Don’t expect to be acknowledged, adulated, worshipped for those efforts. They are tired folks. Give them a break. Be patient and crisp when communicating.

Don’t waste time offering sympathies or asking them for gruesome details. Just get to the point. Let them know who your group is and in what ways you can help. Ask, “What materials do you need? What kind of volunteers would help? Where? In which way?”

If all they want is money, then that is what they want. Suck up and fundraise, if you trust them.

Do frequent check in with ground folks, keeping how you talk brief, emotionless and to the point. Kindly follow up with what you have promised and update them so they know you are an efficient collaborator. Again, don’t expect gratitude and flowery praise for your work. Hang low and do your work.

Understand this, when people have experience events like disasters they may have lost homes, pets, loved ones or loved belongings. They experience it differently. Some are openly in grief, others shut down and yet others are cranky.

I know a common attitude is to offer loving listening support. Unfortunately, that helps them to sit further into the stories of loss. Your job is to help them to transition back to normal as quickly as possible. They will process loss when they are sturdy within and have other external factors in place. Your job is to help them find resources within to triumph the disaster.

You are helping them transition physically and emotionally. They will rehabilitate later.

Be firm with survivors. Move them to take charge of their tasks. Help them think through it. Kindly don’t mirror their pain on your face. They need the opposite at the moment. They have to rise. You don’t rise in stories. You rise in action. This is the moment when you listen with your head, and not your heart.

Stay focused on the smartest route to provide the resources needed. Develop strategies, check for flaws and execute. This is not the time for who will feel bad about what. This is the time to be effective.

Yes, it is a disaster. It doesn’t mean you need to be sad. After few hours of volunteering, take breaks. Dissociate from the work and stories. Do something that makes you happy. There is no need to show how compassionate you are by overworking and stressing out. Understand, when you stress out you will be cranky and snap at others. It helps no one.

Be detached.

It is possible a situation triggers you and a past memory floods in. Step out, process it and step in. Don’t make a big deal about it. Such triggers are common in disaster work. Forgive your team members when they are triggered and react. Integrate them quickly when they return.

If you have become so involved that you are not sleeping well and are experiencing other symptoms, unvolunteer yourself. It is OK. You chose to help, so you can choose to NOT help.

There may be conflict in decision-making. Stay detached and think through clinically. Does the strategy get you closer to outcomes. If yes, irrespective of who proposed it, accept it. If no, argue with evidence as best as you can. If you fail, that is OK. Do what you can and then step back. You are not here show loyalty to team nor to show how brilliant you are. You are here to help those who need it.

Set a time frame for your work including when you will cease the efforts. Adhere to it. Discipline in kindness is a phenomenal and life-enhancing skill.

OK? Now ponder on if you can help. If yes, you know what to do. All the best.

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