According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Web site, Hurricane Katrina roared onshore in southern Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005, devastating the Gulf Coast and costing more than $60 billion in insured losses.
Back then, governments and nonprofit organizations scrambled to provide services and assistance to those in need, but Paige Roberts, executive director at the Southeast Mississippi Red Cross, said that the experience nonprofit organizations gained during Katrina has made everyone wiser and better prepared to aid the victims of this year’s Gulf oil spill.
“We’ve learned that we need to work together to sink or swim,” Roberts said. “Literally and figuratively, we were in the same boat, so [we asked] was it going to be Noah’s Ark or the Titanic? This time, we weren’t blindsided like we were by Katrina.”
The executive director said it’s important for organizations to determine what they do best to better help meet the needs of their communities. “The fabric of disaster response is a weaving of government, nongovernment, faith-based, and non-faith-based organizations, and the tighter you can get that weave of response, the better it is for all of your clients,” she said.
The Red Cross was quickly able to identify that mental health needs were going to arise due to the oil spill, much like they did after Katrina, Roberts said. “Because of our experience with Hurricane Katrina, we had ideas in place to address those needs. Many of the communities affected by the spill were affected by the hurricane, and we see a lot of the same players,” she said.
At press time, the Red Cross said it will begin assisting oil spill victims through its Neighbor to Neighbor initiative at the end of August, a program that teaches those affected coping and resiliency skills. Roberts said her organization has been fine-tuning the program over the last several years, including hiring professional mental health providers.
“This isn’t a trauma like a hurricane or tornado,” the executive director said. “This is an ongoing and intangible crisis, and people that were already vulnerable now have an added ‘sandpaper stress,’ or piling on, of issues.”
Roberts said the Red Cross has seen several types of victims from the oil spill, depending on their relationship to the Gulf:
Fishermen. These individuals have had their livelihoods pulled out from under them. For generations, their families fished the Gulf, and now they are working to reinvent themselves.
Tourism-related workers and business owners. These people are employees and owners of hotels, casinos, tourist fishing boats and other beachside businesses who have lost jobs or their livelihoods due to the dramatic decrease in the numbers of visitors to the Gulf Coast.
Those with a personal connection to the Gulf. Natives who have grown up along the coast have come to the Red Cross for support to deal with depression, anxiety, sadness and a feeling of loss of control.
Roberts said the Red Cross is working hard to meet everyone’s needs, even in the midst of a state-wide reorganization, where the Southeast Mississippi chapter is joining other chapters to become one South Mississippi Red Cross chapter. The director said the merger will help bring resources—manpower, money and materials—together to best be utilized.
Nonprofits that are not prepared to deal with disasters in their communities or that are looking to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their responses should pay attention to the lessons learned along the Gulf Coast, Roberts said:
There is no one agency that can do it all. Stay true to what your organization does best. Don’t try to be the be-all or end-all for everyone in your community, or continually try to go through a metamorphosis. “The best thing you can do is bring your strengths to the table, hope your neighbor organizations bring theirs to the table, and work together to identify how to help the community,” Roberts said.
Join or work with your Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) program. It’s critical that services are not duplicated or gaps left open during a crisis, so know what other organizations are doing in your area. VOAD meetings provide the opportunity for human services, environmental, animal welfare and community development organizations—along with many others—to meet and discuss which resources are needed where, and when.
Partnerships cannot be emphasized enough. How well organizations work together will determine how well everyone comes out of a crisis. For example, the Red Cross may provide shelter, but it doesn’t own the buildings, so it partners with schools, churches, governments and others to provide the shelters; and it doesn’t provide security, so it partners with local sheriffs’ offices to keep everyone safe. “Whether it’s children, pets or people with disabilities—you name it—you’re going to need a partnership to get things done,” Roberts said.
“It can be difficult to show nonprofits in areas that have not had the ‘blessing’ of a catastrophic event how critical preparation is, because they haven’t seen it up close and personal like we have,” Roberts said. “It’s important that they know that the time to exchange business cards is not while the wind is blowing and the water is rising.”
For more information To learn more about the Southeast Mississippi Red Cross and how you or your organization can help those affected by the Gulf oil spill, go to www.redcross-sems.org/. You can contact Paige Roberts at proberts@redcross-sems.org.
Be ready for disaster: Participate in your local/regional VOAD
Natural disasters like the recent flooding in the Midwest and manmade disasters like the Gulf oil spill can happen anywhere, at any moment, and nonprofit executives should be ready to respond to the influx of requests for services and the strain it will put on their organizations’ resources.
Lori West, Gulf region director at International Relief and Development (IRD) and vice chair of the South Mississippi Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (SMVOAD), said nonprofit organizations that are not a member of a local/regional VOAD team should consider joining—or forming one—immediately.
“SMVOAD has taken the initiative to coordinate services and resources in preparation for a worst-case scenario,” West said.
As an example of how organizations are working together, West said IRD is providing housing resources and financial counseling; the Red Cross is providing emergency response, shelter, emotional and spiritual support; and Catholic Charities is providing food and financial assistance. “Together we can provide a comprehensive recovery plan,” she said.
The director, who served on a committee that recently redrafted the national VOAD long-term recovery manual this year, said that before Hurricane Katrina, there was no regional VOAD in her area—only a skeletal state VOAD based in Jackson, Miss., where the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency operates. West said that because the state VOAD was so far north, and due to the state-wide devastation caused by Katrina, organizations were left without a way to organize a long-term recovery committee. Local nonprofits decided they needed a better way to coordinate, respond to a crisis, work toward long-term recovery and be prepared for future disasters.
Today, West said the independent Southern Mississippi VOAD works throughout each phase of a disaster: preparedness, response, relief, recovery, and mitigation. The group meets monthly, allowing local organizations to meet, build relationships, share stories and locate needed resources for their clients through their colleagues.
“We know each other’s strong suits,” she said.
West suggested nonprofit organizations interested in joining or creating a VOAD should:
Research the national VOAD. “They are a great source of information and can come to an organization to provide training, speak to stakeholders and help get folks to opt in,” West said.
Understand the enormous amount of rules and regulations that come with federal funding. West said organizations need to train their staff and their clients on how such monies may be spent. For instance, money from HUD may only be used for housing, although after Katrina, people were using it to simply survive.
Develop good relationships with state and federal VOADs. Be familiar with the necessary contacts, so that in times of crisis, you and your organization will be able to communicate needs efficiently and effectively.
West said that the Southern Mississippi VOAD is currently in the process of reactivating its long-term recovery committee due to the Gulf oil spill. “We have identified nearly 4,500 self-reported remaining unmet Katrina needs, mostly concerning housing. These folks have not recovered from Katrina, and are most likely being affected by the oil spill—or it is exacerbating [hardships]. We’re not finished and we don’t want folks to forget about us.”
For more information
National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD) was formed after Hurricane Camille came ashore in Mississippi in 1969, leaving nonprofit and government agencies struggling to communicate with clients and each other. For more information, go to www.nvoad.org/. The South Mississippi VOAD serves six counties along the coast of Mississippi. To see a complete list of participating agencies, go to https://katrina.communityos.org/cms/node/27. International Relief and Development aims to reduce suffering of the world’s most vulnerable groups and provide tools and resources needed to increase their self-sufficiency. For more, go to www.ird-dc.org/. To contact Lori West, e-mail lwest@irdgulfcoast.org. ¦