The Importance of Volunteers in an Emergency

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The Importance of Volunteers in an Emergency July 2012 Volunteerism is not easily sourced. The offering of oneself to a ‘greater cause’ is as valuable as precious metals like gold and silver. To be a volunteer simply means willingness to provide a service, without any remuneration. Usually an emergency means that a disaster has struck that cannot ordinarily be countered or contained by conventional means or what is available on a day to day basis. But when one says ‘disaster’ what are we referring to? The answer is, quite frankly – anything that threatens human life; physical disasters: tropical storms, hurricanes or earthquakes; health disasters: pandemic or epidemic; even social disasters like poverty or drought in Africa. In our local context, physical disasters always present the proverbial ‘monster in the closet’ that we so carefully look out for. Trinidad and Tobago not only lies on an active plate but is just on the border of a region that is plagued annually by hurricanes. The country however, has been quite fortunate for some time in escaping a seriously disastrous storm. We have never had to deal with the level of devastation that countries like Haiti or Grenada have suffered. Usually the official period for hurricanes spans from June 1st to November 30th each year but the meteorological office gives the warnings about what to expect when. In 1988 Hurricane Gilbert left fifty-four people dead and affected well over eight hundred thousand citizens of Haiti taking houses and their clean water supply. An outbreak of cholera was almost inevitable. On September 7th 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit Grenada, killing 39 people. Its capital city St. George’s was severely affected and many significant buildings were destroyed, including the residence of the prime minister and a local prison, allowing most of the inmates to escape. In total there were

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