The role of volunteer agencies in hurricane Katrina response

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to ever occur in the United States (Mills et al., 2007). The extent of the destruction visited upon New Orleans, Alabama and Mississippi was unprecedented and so was the lack of response from the federal government. This lack of response has been the subject of a great deal of discussion in the years since the event took place. There is a general consensus that the situation was handled poorly and many changes have been made and will continue to be made. Although the response of the federal government and some volunteer agencies was unacceptable many volunteer agencies were exceptional in the manner in which they handled the crisis. The purpose of this discussion is to examine the Role of Volunteer Agencies in Response to Hurricane Katrina. The research will examine the successes and failure of volunteer agencies in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The research will also focus on the manner in which society can learn from these successes and failures so that future responses are improved.

II. Statement of problem

Volunteer organizations play an important role in ensuring that the needs of citizens are met in cases of disaster. These organizations are important because they provide a safety net when the federal government is not able or not willing to assist in disastrous situations. For this reason it is important to examine the roles that they during Hurricane Katrina. This examination will lead to a greater understanding of the issues that volunteer organizations face and the actions that can be taken to remedy these issues.

III. Policy perspective

"Hurricane Katrina resulted in the largest relocation of citizens within the United States since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. However, the Dust Bowl migration of 300,000 to 400,000 people from the southern plains states to California took place over several years, in comparison to an estimated 1.2 million people who left their homes and communities within hours or days before Hurricane Katrina's landfall along the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005 (Gregory 1989). Due to the subsequent flooding of New Orleans, the 100,000 to 120,000 residents who remained in the city were rapidly transformed into a second wave of evacuees, greatly intensifying the need for shelter and housing (Nigg et al., 2006)."

As a result of the dire need for housing, food and medical attention and the failure of government at the local, state and federal levels a great deal of responsibility was placed in the hands of volunteer organizations. The most prominent of these organizations was the American Red Cross. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina the American Red Cross assisted evacuees in several ways. According to a fact sheet published in the days following the disaster the organizations response was the largest it ever had in its 125-year history. The article explains that the company managed the following relief efforts:

1. Shelters- there were a total of 275 ARC shelters in nine states including Alabama, Mississippi Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Florida and Georgia ("Fast Facts").

2. Evacueess- the ARC sheltered a total of 76, 400 evacuee s ("Fast Facts"). This number was not inclusive of the number of transitioning evacuees that the organization assisted from the superdome to the astrodome ("Fast Facts").

3. Emergency vehicles- ARC provided a total of 94 emergency response vehicles throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama ("Fast Facts"). The organization also worked to engage food distribution to survivors of the Hurricane ("Fast Facts").

4. Relief Workers -- the red cross dispatched thousands of relief workers both staff and volunteers. These workers were dispatched from every part of the country ("Fast Facts").

5. Providing food- ARC partnered with several other organizations such as the Southern Baptist convention and Second Harvest to supply survivors with food. These organizations worked together to provide more than half a million meals each day ("Fast Facts").

6. Shelter at the Astrodome in Houston- ARC was instrumental in assisting the federal government with over 23,000 survivors of the Hurricane who were housed at the Astrodome. ARC assisted in providing food, blankets and cots for the evacuees ("Fast Facts").

7. Healthcare- the red cross in collaboration with the federal government assisted survivors in receiving medical attention. The organization also headed efforts related to preventative measure to keep survivors and workers from getting ill from the unsanitary conditions present in the area at the time ("Fast Facts").

Although the Red Cross did provide many survivors with assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the manner in which the volunteer organization responded to has received a great deal of criticism from some organizations. Namely, there have been allegations that the organization is broken and in need of an overall as it pertained to the structure of the organization and disaster preparedness.

In addition to the aforementioned criticism, the Red Cross has been berated by some minority groups that have claimed discrimination in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. According to a report published by the National Council of La Raza, the response of the red cross during Hurricane Katrina was particularly neglectful of English Language Learners -- individuals that speak English as a second language. In addition the group found that there are real structural and attitudinal changes that need to take place at the organization to remedy the problems that the organization faced during hurricane Katrina. The author explains that

"Due to its rigidity, both in structure and attitude, ARC failed to recognize some of the critical needs of the communities they were serving, which stemmed from both a lack of diversity within ARC's staff, board and volunteer corps and a lack of knowledge and experience with diverse communities, resulting in several of the organizations mistakes during the response phase. These missteps included volunteers evicting Latino hurricane Victims on the presumption that they were workers and not actual survivors; preventing bilingual professionals from directly assisting Spanish dominant survivors (Muniz, 2006, )."

The American Red Cross was also under fire because their funds were believed to be

The Salvation Army was also one of the organizations that assisted in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Like the Red Cross the Salvation Army received a great deal of money and donations from people throughout the United States. Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated the gulf Coast, the "Salvation Army is gradually using $155 million of public donations as it continues its long-term recovery plan for Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi. This second phase of the Army's overall $382 million recovery effort is using donated funds for reconstruction, housing development, volunteer programs, and job-readiness training, among other services. To help implement the plan, the Army has signed agreements with a number of organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Project Teamwork and Southern Baptist Disaster Relief ("Salvation Army continues Long-Term Hurricane Katrina Recovery in Mississippi and Louisiana"). "

In addition to the Red Cross and the Salvation Army several other volunteer organizations stepped in to assist people in need. Such organizations such as churches played an active role in the relief effort. According to a book entitled There is no such thing as a natural disaster: race, class, and Hurricane Katrina Church groups were instrumental in getting people relocated in the aftermath of the storm (Hartman).

In the surrounding areas such as Georgia and Texas churches were extremely active in assisting the Hurricane victims. In addition, churches through the United States assisted the survivors and some churches such as the Dream Center in California actually flew people to California so that they could relocate. Churches also acted as shelters and headquarters where people could get supplies and access to the resources that they needed to get back on their feet. These resources included the internet so that people could locate family members, look for jobs and apply for FEMA vouchers and other types of assistance.

A major issue that affected all of the non-profit organizations was lack of communication. A great deal of this was due to the storm itself and the destruction of the infrastructure including telephone lines. Many organizations did not have alternative forms of communication available to them and as such they were hampered in their ability to respond to the disaster.

II. Critical Assessment of Policies and Practices

Although there were many occasions following Hurricane Katrina in which volunteer organizations assisted a great number of people, some of the best known volunteer organizations had breakdowns in communication and difficulty handling the magnitude of this disaster. This brokenness is most apparent with the American Red Cross. The size of the American Red Cross coupled with the magnitude of this disaster seemed to result in terrible outcomes. It is apparent through the research that the ARC ad structural problems that prevented the organization from responding to the disaster in the most effective way.

On the other hand many churches seemed to be better equipped at handling the disaster. Their ability to deal with the evacuees in the manner that they did was due in part to the fact that they were assisting far fewer people. Churches were able to provide food and shelter in a timely and efficient manner. Faith-based organizations also had the assistance of church members who were eager to volunteer.

Recommendations

As a result of the findings presented in this discussion, it is recommended that the American Red Cross and other disaster relief agencies carefully examined their preparedness for future disasters. The research indicates that the Red Cross was ill prepared to handle the amount of people that were affected by Hurricane Katrina.

The lack of preparedness extended into the way that the organization served certain communities in the aftermath of the Hurricane. For instance, many Latino's and other English Language learners were not given the appropriate assistance because people assumed that they were workers and not survivors of the storm. In the future the Red Cross can avoid treating people in this manner by diversifying its staff and ensuring that there are bilingual workers on scene who are ready and able to assist the people that need help.

In addition, it appears that assistance such as vouchers were given to people who were not survivors of the Hurricane. These types of mistakes are extremely detrimental and have a negative impact on the image of the American Red Cross. The red Cross has also been accused of misappropriating funds. Overall it seems that the organization is in need of a greater amount of accountability. A great deal of money was being handled but there was no accountability for where the money was going. The ARC has already begun to make some changes. These changes are due in part to the scrutiny of the FBI and American citizens who gave a great deal of money to the organization in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Churches were rather successful in their bids to assist people following the Hurricane. Although churches are not professional relief organizations, they were better able to handle the needs of people in a way that was rapid in efficient. Scholars have not yet provided us with research as it pertains to how churches were able to carry out relief efforts in such successful ways, while the organizations such as FEMA and the Red Cross struggled substantially to assist people who needed help. It has been noted in the discussion that Churches had fewer people to assist than did the Red Cross and FEMA. However, it can also be argued that the structure of the leadership at the churches was more conducive to ensuring that the appropriate measures were carried out.