As soon as Helene passed, people started showing up and showing out. Neighbors rescued neighbors from flooded homes, hooked up generators and distributed supplies. In the words of Levin Sudderth, assistant chief at Linville Volunteer Fire Department, it’s “just mountain people taking care of each other.”
That willingness to act, coupled with local know-how, makes community members particularly well-positioned to act in times of crisis. They’re jumping in boats and pulling people out of the water, or using ATVs to deliver water in hard-to-reach neighborhoods.
Gavin Smith leads the graduate certificate program in Disaster Resilient Policy, Engineering and Design at NC State University. He says it’s a fine line of balancing local “nimbleness” and knowledge of the backroads with outside expertise and resources.
“They don't follow the same protocols and rules that can slow down the delivery of assets,” said Smith, an environmental planning professor. “They're just doing it.”
Communities also want to help from outside the affected area. In the case of western North Carolina, there are many people in other parts of the state who have loved ones living without power, access to water and food.
“People are wanting to do good, and they want to offer aid,” Smith said. “People are saying, ‘Let's just get a bunch of clothes together, and we're going to drive it out there and provide it to the community.’”
But what if the community doesn’t need clothes? What if, instead, they need water, non-perishables, baby formula or diapers? If volunteers arrive with clothes, then they may …
a.) consume gas and food resources on their trip,
b.) clog up roads, and
c.) put additional stress on a community that now needs to store unwanted donations.
That’s the issue of volunteer convergence, or the phenomenon of volunteers descending on a disaster area in a way that’s difficult for emergency managers to organize or depend upon.
“A lot of people are going to be driving into these communities without the appropriate contacts and delivering the assistance, which is going to further hamper recovery efforts,” Gavin said.
So, how do you avoid convergence?
- You can donate financial resources to an established nonprofit, local organization or even displaced individuals themselves.
- Bring supplies to a collection center in your area that is organizing with groups in the affected community.
- If you are bringing supplies to an impacted community, make sure that you have a contact on the inside who can tell you where to bring supplies and what to bring.
