TCU model improves disaster response initiatives

Fort Worth, TX

4/24/2009

By: Judy Shannon

“Something needs to be done to better prepare for disaster response.” Those words echoed in the ears of Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences instructor, Sharon Canclini, and Faith & Life @ TCU program director, Judy Shannon. In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, community concern over disaster preparedness was heightened, however there were no clear answers on how to improve response initiatives.

In the summer of 2007, Canclini and Shannon met with leaders from Volunteer Center North Texas (VCNT) and Tarrant Area Community of Churches (TACC) to discuss the issue. Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina indicated that the faith community has reservoirs of volunteers and resources and is willing and eager to help in response to disasters but may not know how to best engage. It is clear that faith communities need to be better informed and prepared to respond to disasters efficiently, effectively and safely. However, disaster response agencies have not developed ways to connect with and engage their local faith communities and many faith leaders are disheartened when their desire to help in relief efforts is met with roadblocks, red-tape, or processes that discouraged the very beliefs that are calling them to serve. Beyond Canclini’s work with TCU nursing students, there appeared to be no effective initiatives, to engage members of the faith community in disaster response.

With the mission: to help prepare the Tarrant County faith community to mobilize volunteers and resources efficiently in response to disaster situations, TCU and its partners sought to create a model for a community-based approach that could engage disaster response agencies with members of the faith community in advance disaster preparation.

A meeting was convened for clergy and lay leaders to help them better understand the structure of disaster response and begin geographic networking to aid in coordination of response initiatives. A key strategy was to provide information, education and networking so members of the faith community could coordinate their volunteers and resources to support existing local first responders. Building interfaith networks within neighborhoods became a primary tactic to help both large and small congregations respond better to local emergencies and to efficiently integrate their resources.

Since October 2007, the team has hosted more than 300 people at four events titled: Calming the Storm: Effective Response in Times of Disaster.

The response by Calming the Storm participants has been overwhelmingly positive. This positive response has far extended beyond the local community. In January 2009, the Homeland Security Institute’s Journal of Homeland Security published a journal article, co-authored by Canclini, Shannon, and Kay Dillard from VCNT, entitled: A Model for Engaging the Faith Community in Advance Preparation for Disaster.

On December 15, 2008, TCU was the only university invited to participate in a Senior Leader’s Summit at the Homeland Security Institute in Washington, D. C. The summit brought together senior leaders from USAID, FEMA, and a myriad of first response agencies to share best practices for International and Domestic Disaster Response and Recovery. This summit included TCU’s initiatives in its identified best practices, with the hope of improving disaster response, world-wide. It is exciting to see that an idea that began with six people in a small conference room at TCU will now be used as a global best practice, to engage, support, and ease suffering when disaster strikes throughout the world.