Increasingly, disaster response in the US is dependent on a growing network of volunteers, who look to coordinate with FEMA to assist those who need help after a storms, earthquakes, or wildfires.
From more structured organizations like Team Rubicon, formed by military veterans, to more ad hoc ones like the Cajun Navy, these volunteer groups have been critical in responding to natural disasters throughout the United States, according to reporting in Reuters/The National Post. “I love emergency management and helping coordinate things and being in chaos, to provide calm,” volunteer Jeff Byard, of Team Rubicon, told Reuters.
Travis Maher, a Texas firefighter, has been volunteering to help in the aftermath of disasters for more than 20 years, deploying as part of the disaster recovery group Texas Task Force 1, and taking part in more than 40 missions. This most recently included the response to Hurricane Laura, while overseeing a group of 18 volunteers from Texas and Missouri. “We are essentially an extra layer of protection to state and local officials…but there are a lot of volunteer groups as well who do their own thing,” Maher told Reuters.
Byard also notes the additional difficulties of volunteers during a pandemic, due to the additional risk to those over the age of 65. Says Byard of his organization’s decision to not deploy those in higher age brackets, “It’s been challenging, because many of our volunteers fall into that age range, but we made a decision early on as they’re one of the at-risk populations.”
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