The following is written by Nicole Williams, Disaster Management Officer with the Caribbean Regional Representation Office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Nicole was deployed to assist the Turks and Caicos Red Cross with their emergency response operation following the passage of hurricane Ike and Hanna. This is her experience during the operation.
You really owe a successful disaster response to the volunteers! If it was not for them, the work would overwhelm the few executives and staff of a Red Cross Society or branch.
Indeed the executives are more than often volunteers as was the case in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The Red Cross leadership tackled lack of electricity, damage to homes and businesses while mobilizing other volunteers to help with the shelters and water distribution.
So it was the volunteers, guided by the volunteer executive, who carried the operation against some fearsome odds. Damage to their own homes, abuse by beneficiaries lashing out (stress responses), no water or electricity were just some of their trials.
Nevertheless the volunteers came out daily and worked long hours in the sun. For example it was not until the end of the first week (post-impact) that the branch on Grand Turk was able to look after their welfare with regular water and meals for the volunteers.
This was because regular services on the island were disrupted. Even if restaurants could cook, the intermittent water supply and lack of food supplies (groceries were still recovering) kept them shut for the first week.
The British Red Cross response team also had it tough in the first week. The Regional Intervention Team (RIT) member and logistician slept in folddown beds (packing these away daily as this space became the Red Cross operations centre most of the days and evenings).
Their bedroom was at the patio (of a storm damaged room) on the windward side of the building to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
Peanut butter and 'Spam' sandwiches became treasured, Pork and Beans in a tin can be made tasty with seasonings and yes the volunteers happily took part in these 'feast'.
Please do not send clothes to countries that have experienced disasters. Eight volunteers spent the better part of two days sorting a half container of donated clothes, 20 percent of which could not be used. This number represents 50 percent of the islands volunteer support which could have been tasked otherwise.
It was important to keep focused amid the numerous phone calls, request and information flows. We set five primary tasks each day and kept referring back to these to stay the course.
A sixth task was to anticipate, plan for the following day and share these activities and plans with the national disaster office every evening.
One of the last things we tried to do daily was consolidate the impact of the goods received and relief distribution effort. Then there was the psycho-social support of reviewing the operation with the team at day's end.
The Turks and Caicos Red Cross maintained the seven fundamental principles for which the Red Cross is known for to the extent that they were being continuously asked to assist in all aspects of the response.
The National Disaster Office (NDO) requested the Red Cross to coordinate the relief, Rotary Club asked for the beneficiary identification and support with their relief tent initiative among other requests. Coordination with the NDO was also essential.
The Red Cross was recognised as an auxiliary to government by the NDO. As a result the latter provided vehicles, safe storage and loaders for the Red Cross. This kept the cost of the operation down.
We were guided by their intimate knowledge of the national response plan and government policies concerning the disaster which helped us plan our response better.
They were respectful of issues guided by our principles and values and sought to help the Red Cross serve through facilitating meetings with other government authorities.
The first phase of the relief operation could not have been implemented in such a timely and comprehensive manner without the help of the volunteers. Through their support the Red Cross were able to distribute tarpaulins to every community on Grand Turk within the first week, reaching over 1000 families.
The volunteers then began a second widespread distribution of water containers, water purification tablets and mosquito nets in the second week.
On a few evenings in these periods they returned from the field to help begin the process of beneficiary identification for the targeted distributions to follow. Their feedback of responses from the field was invaluable in the planning and reporting processes.
When the emergency phase is over, the Turks and Caicos Red Cross has the task of keeping these and new volunteers engaged but there will be other preparedness and health work to achieve.
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| Volunteers of the Turks and Caicos Red Cross take a break from unloading relief items |
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| A beneficiary smiles as she walks away with tarpaulins for home distributed by the Turks and Caicos Red Cross |
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