Preparedness
Houses of worship have always provided notable disaster relief services. Faith communities recognize that they are in a unique position to help individuals, families, and communities after a disaster and called to do so, but often, people do not connect preparedness with the ability to provide these valuable relief services. By being prepared, a congregation increases its capacity to minister and prevents its members from being victims of disasters themselves. Even if a house of worship is not located in a disaster-prone area, disasters can affect any community. Preparedness activities encompass how to better help other communities respond to disasters. While houses of worship should work with regional and state structures, they can also do a lot on their own.
Disaster Committee
One of the most important things a house of worship can do is designate a “disaster chair” or create a “disaster committee” that can be in charge of disaster preparedness activities. The person or committee designated to head disaster-related activities should be responsible for the following activities:
Emergency Plan
Every house of worship needs an emergency plan. An emergency plan reflects how a house of worship will care for its congregation, community, and facility in the event of and after a disaster. It will also allow houses of worship to continue to operate even during and directly after a disaster. This emergency plan should include vital information on the facility, evacuation routes out of the facility, alternative worship site, and congregation lists. Importantly, an emergency plan should take a special note of vulnerable populations which could include the elderly, disabled, and others with issues that might affect their ability to respond to a disaster.
Emergency Preparedness for the disabled
Education
Houses of worship can encourage individuals and their families to be prepared through insets or websites. Not only can faith communities update their members of current disasters, they should encourage families to have Family Emergency Plans including evacuation routes, emergency kits, and pet considerations.
Preparedness Bulletin Insert (.pdf)
Training
Houses of worship can facilitate training of members in various disaster preparedness activities: sponsoring classes like First Aid or Basic Weather Spotter Courses or encourage congregants to join other training like Citizencorp's CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) or the Red Cross's DAT (Disaster Action Team).
National Weather Service Courses
Bring Red Cross courses to your house of worship
Community Plans
If faith communities are well prepared for disaster, they can extend their ministry to their communities. Some examples of ways to extend ministry include designating facilities as shelters, partnering with a local disaster relief agency so that when the time comes, they have a channel for which they can ask what is needed. Houses of worship can also create partnerships with other houses of worship in other areas to set up Emergency Mutual Agreement Compacts.
For more information, to request a disaster preparedness presentation, or for guidance on implementing these steps, contact Selena Xie at Selena@texasimpact.org or (512) 472 - 3903.
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