Essay Sample on Volunteers in Disasters: Preparing for Roles & Responsibilities

Introduction

Responding to the various disasters have become a priority for the national services programs. Volunteers play an essential role in this disaster response with the participants handling disaster responsibilities with situations that are likely to be encountered. Adequately preparing the volunteers for the disaster response requires effective disaster setting as well as preparation and training programs. The volunteer roles and responsibilities in the times of disasters require that the participants receive effective training for the success of the practice. Therefore, the participants trained are comfortable in disaster response and reliefs based on the associated tasks and responsibilities. Training for the volunteers should be provided with practical communication skills based on the primary assignment as well as the general disaster information and the disaster work of the participants (Lorenzi et al., 2013). The training should also be provided in a manner that allows the volunteers to fulfill their roles effectively. With many people around the world choosing to be volunteers with many of them joining the about 45% joining the international Red Cross services, the advantages to using the volunteers, the challenges, how to train, retain and organize the volunteers have to be understood. The legal concerns for the volunteers and the limiting Harmful Exposure to Volunteers harmful exposure to volunteers should also be appreciated.

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Advantages to Using Volunteers in Response

Disasters have become a global issue hence the need to support the victims through various groups willing to support financially and personally to rescue the survivors. The global society has produced volunteers who are willing to respond to disasters through various authorities and agencies. Therefore, there is a need for adequate preparation for an emergency as well as the volunteers' roles based on the immediate disaster response. The nature of volunteerism in acting quickly depends on the training with organized, mobilized as well as operationalized system. The volunteers play effective roles in the disaster through the diverse occupations, including the construction work. They are always first at the scene of incidence and the catastrophe thus highly trusted by the victims (Twigg & Mosel, 2017). The volunteer preparation ensures the volunteers participate effectively and in a meaningful manner during disaster management. The recruitment, as well as development and retention of the volunteers based on the various skills, ensures that in the event of a disaster, there is a functional workforce for resolving the catastrophes.

Volunteer use in disaster response presents opportunities in addressing the needs of individuals who are necessary and useful during the disaster. The volunteers have easy access to the resources and have the capability of bearing with emergent situations. The volunteers have a high level of confidence in providing voluntary services as well as effective leadership in general. The volunteer program with the disaster ensures an adequate response based on the public and consequences for the large scale disaster emergency. Therefore, volunteer training and retention ensures the improved capability of responding to significant mass casualty in times of disasters. The volunteers play a role in organizing how the disaster is managed with a well-organized safety net.

Volunteers are charged with disaster planning as well as procedures which are initiated in case of emergency issues. The implemented plans during the disaster ensure that the volunteers employ appropriate skills in times of the community crisis. The disaster response structure ensures that the volunteers use the surrounding models which are incorporated in handling the disaster. With the volunteers being a ready, willing, and able act, they have an insight into the defining, readiness as well as preparedness for the disasters. Also, the desire of volunteers to provide useful and meaningful services during disasters, ensure that they play a critical role in achieving the emergency management while addressing their goals that include mitigation, preparedness as well as response and recovery (Tim, Pan, Ractham, & Kaewkitipong, 2017). Since the volunteers seek meaningful roles in disaster management, they have to be appropriately deployed based on the valuable events as well as executive outcomes based on the roles and responsibilities they play in managing disasters.

Challenges to Using Volunteers in Response

Although volunteers in disaster response play critical roles in ensuring the emergencies are handled, there are various challenges encountered in the use of volunteers in response. Some of the challenges include training, legal concerns, personal exposure, as well as insurance concerns. Identifying the skills and capabilities of the volunteers in the disaster response depends on the proximity, speed as well as efficiency and accountability. Therefore, the volunteers have to undergo practical training which should be adopted through humanitarian response. However, lack of resources has led to difficulties in demonstrating formal aids hence difficulty in stimulating response due to lack of mobilization (Reuter, Ludwig, Kaufhold, & Pipek, 2015). Lack of ability for self-organization, the voluntary groups and individuals, become the characteristic features of disasters due to lack of resources to improvise in crises. Since the emergence occurs in the disaster and hazards contexts, the opposing initiatives pose risks to the volunteers hence the need for planning and preparedness for the potential events.

The voluntary protection act has also become a challenge with the informal voluntary action that affects the individuals and emergent groups. The future of the volunteer has been considered in consideration with the disaster response. Since disaster strikes require immediate response, the volunteers are forced to deal with the injured as well as traumatized people, which might put their lives as well as families in danger. With many hours of the day handling emergent disaster issues, the volunteers are likely to experience a physical disruption in their daily routine. Major disaster events such as earthquakes and hurricanes that lead to the flooding of roads and street possess the health risk to the volunteers with the bridges and railways destroyed and broke communication (Lorenzi et al., 2013). Such situations can put the volunteers into the circumstance of being a victim. Therefore the voluntary protection act protects them from taking such risks that can endanger their lives during the relief and rescue activities. Emergent activities such as rescuing and burying the dead as well as the provision of food, water and clothing have been limited by the volunteer protection act with the communities and the local authorities using specific guidelines in ensuring the volunteers are protected. The volunteers have to be protected from mass media highlight panic as well as looting and exploitative activities during disaster response.

The volunteers respond to the disasters in different ways hence the challenge of personal exposure. The individual volunteers might become affected passively during the response to disasters, thus waiting for help from other emergency organizations. Also, the disasters put a strain on volunteers making them halt their daily activities to take new roles and responsibilities in responding to disasters and recovery. Therefore, to help in the crisis, the volunteers have to be strong and outpouring individuals willing to be affected on behalf of the disasters. On the other hand, the spontaneous voluntary activities require significant coordination as well as the integration of the communication and logistical methods to solve the safety challenges of the volunteers.

The increased number of volunteers, resources as well as disasters requires effective coordination and communication to ease the formal emergency response. Retaining the volunteers use in disaster response requires adequate resources and government intervention. With the volunteer ready to help, training sessions gave to be implemented to ensure effective decisions making processes are enhanced for the service delivery (Meier, 2015). The delay, as well as lack of information, is a challenge in the use of volunteers in disaster re4sponse with poor coordination and the breaking of rules hence poor retention of the volunteers. The volunteer groups do not embrace learning by making an approach, which has led to a contrast in the formal planning of the training sessions of the emergency personnel. The constant changes in the voluntary membership increase the instability of the volunteer groups, thus loss of the acquired knowledge, skills as well as experiences by the volunteer. As a result, there is difficulty in incorporating the volunteer efforts in disaster management.

Training, Retaining and Organizing Volunteers

Providing adequate training, as well as retaining and organizing volunteers, ensures effective rescue services during the disaster response. Through training, the volunteers' roles are adequately defined based on the tasks and the work organized. The command structure is provided with the access of back up support series for the disaster management. Therefore, training for the volunteers should be in the context of defined expectations as well as the designed goals that promotes control of the disaster. Disasters such earthquakes require active organization as well as coordination of the volunteers to ensure the command structure is provided based on the line of communication. The roles and tasks of the volunteers should be redefined based on the aspects of the disaster work with the volunteers separated based on their roles as well as the initiatives of the groups (Kryvasheyeu et al., 2016). The operating context of the disaster period should be organized through the routine work and training.

The disaster events should be understood based on the degree of the disaster with the conditions and characteristics of the disaster established. Effective utilization of the volunteers as resources is necessary for retaining the volunteer through the appropriate technical skills that are allocated based on the disaster coordination contexts that render training and operation practices applicable. Since most of the volunteers lack occupational experience based on the rescue work, disaster training promotes the volunteer ability to adapt to various situations as well as disaster work. Application of the disaster response theory ensures that the volunteers acquire practical training for the rescue exercise.

The extent of the training, as well as the adaptation of the rescue elements by the volunteers, increases the retention level with the active practice for a range of disaster situations. By understanding the process of the formation during the disaster response with the conceptual framework promotes the adequate performance of the volunteers thus self-maintenance of the volunteers in performing their routine work (Thormar et al., 2014). Therefore, disaster volunteers should be prepared adequately in both technical and psychological aspects based on the demands of disaster work. The training and practice should consequently have different contexts that promote well-being as well as the practical performance of the volunteers through comprehensive training and organization that eliminates the various problems for the disaster impacts.

Limiting Harmful Exposure to Volunteers

The organizations that rely on the volunteers have to understand the limiting harmful risks the volunteers experience with the need to prevent the harmful exposures. Therefore, volunteers' insurance services should be provided w...