Report examines nonprofit’s hurricane relief role
A new report, “Role of Faith-Based and Community Organizations in Providing Relief and Recovery Services After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” by Lauren Eyster, Samuel Hall, Petya Kehayova and Timothy Triplett of the Urban Institute, examines the relief and recovery services provided by faith-based and community organizations, or FBCOs, in the Gulf Coast region after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
The study, published in December, includes a telephone survey of 202 FBCOs that provided services and in-depth case studies of eight selected FBCOs.
“By almost any measure – geographic reach of the storm, population displaced, destruction of property, costs of disaster relief, and prospective costs of rebuilding – the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita represent the largest single natural disaster on U.S. soil in the past 100 years,” the report states. “The events also produced one of the largest disaster response efforts by nongovernmental, charitable organizations, including both faith-based and community organizations.”
Many organizations that are not traditional disaster responders, including small community-based social service providers and local congregations, played important roles in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Several lessons can be drawn from the telephone survey and the case studies about what roles such organizations might play in future disasters. These include:
- Those preparing emergency preparedness plans need to better understand the availability and capability of FBCOs.
- Recovery services after a disaster of this magnitude extend far beyond the traditional boundaries of emergency relief.
- Many FBCOs involved in long-term recovery appreciate the need to coordinate activities, as evidenced by new attention to data-sharing mechanisms among some traditional responders.
- Major disasters generate major humanitarian responses, which sometimes include those with the best intentions but uneven capabilities.
- Soliciting and managing cash and material donations as well as volunteers is a key to effective disaster response.
- How FBCOs will respond in the future will likely depend on the magnitude of the disaster and the extent of damage they sustain to their own operations.
