What I learned as a disaster relief volunteer

After the tornados hit Alabama and adjacent states on I made three trips to the affected areas--two within a week of the storm. I helped to clear roads, transport supplies, and organize distribution centers along with some friends from Atlanta. (Shoutouts to the B'ham Dream Center and the RAFT teams from Perimiter) Here's what I learned about disaster relief:

Tornados are not like hurricanes
Growing up in Mobile I am very familiar with hurricane damage. This was very different. Driving up there were no signs that anything had happened. Even inside Tuscaloosa nothing looked affected. Then I drove for another block and an entire neighborhood was just gone. You could see blue sky where you shouldn't. Unlike a major hurricane though, gas and food were available in the area within a couple of days.

Information goes out of date quickly
In an emergency the situation changes quickly and communications are largely uncoordinated. This means you can't count on information being valid for very long--no more than a day within the first week--and you need to plan flexibly to compensate. In one case we were told that an area was inaccessible without government escort (the National Guard had it locked down due to looters). Turns out that was true the previous day but by the time we got there they just let us in without question. Immediately after the tornado the water in Tuscaloosa was unsafe so bottled water was in great demand. But a month later people are still bringing cases of bottled water. I have never seen so much bottled water in my life. The Internet and twitter are improving the relevancy of information. I hope distribution centers will use them even more in the future to communicate current needs.

Donate pallets
After being a warehouse manager for a day I have a request: donate a quantity of one item. Many people went to the store and bought a dozen different items to put together as kits. As thoughtful as this was it just meant that I had to sort lots of individual items. Also, don't give things in bags. Bags don't stack and are hard to move. If you really want to donate something helpful, pick an item (based on the most recent need you can determine), buy it in bulk, and keep it in the box.

Mission work is a lot like work
I don't know about you but I tend to think that doing missions work--serving those in dire need--will be some sort of feel-good spiritual experience. Maybe this is because we tend to give people the highlights when telling them about our work. "Doesn't it just feel good to help people?" Well maybe sometimes. And sometimes it just feels like work. Hard work. Let me tell you, moving boxes is not a great spiritual experience. Doing "everything as unto the Lord" means sacrifice, not a way to feel better about yourself.

The person giving the orders is the one in charge
In an emergency situation the chain of command is largely irrelevant. Whoever is giving the orders is de facto in charge--no ceremony or commission or special appointment needed. My friend Ashley practically took over a distribution center for a day and did a great job getting it organized.

Don't wait for someone to tell you what needs to be done
The reason Ashley took over was that he saw a need and he just went to work to lead a team to fill it without waiting for someone to micromanage him. He was careful to work with the people who had been there from day 1 to make sure we were working toward the same goal. The cool thing is that when everyone shares the same goal, very little management is needed. All that's needed is the ability to see what needs to be done and the willingness to do it.

You can still help
While the crisis period is past, over a thousand families have lost their homes and neighborhoods are full of debris. In addition, FEMA's funding is running out. It's been so good to see almost every church in north Alabama doing something to help and teams from across the country have come to help. But there's plenty of work for you to do if you are able to volunteer. To find a place to help contact area churches or the Christian Service Mission (which is also a great place to send supplies).