View of Hurricane Florence from the International Space Station. Source: ESA, NASA
September 13, 2018
Oct. 5, 2018 update
North Carolina Conference now has appealed for Early Response Team (ERT) help from outside the Southeast and they will accept both regular ERT and ERT-led teams (at least one person including the leader must have ERT training).
The North Carolina Conference requests that interested parties should first consult the Barbara Burnside, the New
England Conference Disaster Response coordinator to pass on any updates about the response before teams contact disasterresponse@nccum.org or call the NC Conference Disaster Call Center at 1-888-440-9167.
It is important to stress that since the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR,) goes in only at the invitation of the affected conferences after being cleared for early response, which means that first responders have determined the rescue/emergency phase is complete or it’s safe for our volunteers to help.
Be one of the “3Ps” of disaster response: a ...
“player” serving on a team;
“prayer” supporting our volunteer teams and the communities they will serve;
“payer” providing financial assistance to a local volunteer, team or UMCOR Disaster Response, U.S. Advance #901670.
Don’t collect clothing or other items that have not be requested. Dealing with unwanted/unusable items can easily become a disaster-after-the-disaster. Learn more about how to help by reading Top four worst, and best, ways to help after a disaster
Build a cleaning bucket, school kit or hygiene kit. See the list of New England Conference drop-off sitesCleaning buckets assembled at United Methodist Publishing House were sent to Texas following Hurricane Harvey. Photo by Malcom Thompson.
Be prepared: Schedule an early response team (ERT), UMVIM (long-term recovery/rebuild), or Connecting Neighbors (individual, church & community preparedness) training event in your church, cluster, or community.
Monitor the disaster response page on the Conference website for latest news, upcoming trainings and calls for volunteers.
Many may have heard that the head of Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) often mentions Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOADs) which includes members such as UMCOR and its many church volunteers. FEMA has started emphasizing that they can’t respond alone during disasters.
Their 2017 Hurricane Season FEMA After-Action Report released in July says: “FEMA has adapted and improved its capabilities since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and supported efforts to increase preparedness across the whole community — including state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments, non-governmental organizations (such as UMCOR), and the private sector. The work of emergency management does not belong just to FEMA. It is the responsibility of the whole community, federal, SLTT, private sector partners, and private citizens to build collective capacity and prepare for the disasters that we will inevitably face.”
That is a call to action that Methodists have been heeding for decades.
