RICHMOND — The Virginia Baptist Mission Board's revamped disaster relief command center was tested during a simulation June 27—and leaders say they were pleased with the results.
Historically, off-site coordination for VBMB disaster relief operations has been done by two or three persons working at ordinary office desks with flip-charts and sticky notes as their technology. However, the enormity of operations when Hurricane Katrina struck and significant growth in Virginia Baptists' response capabilities since Katrina have made it evident that a better plan and better facilities are needed.
LAUREN HEILMAN
Computers and projection screens fill the Mission Board's disaster relief command center, loated in the Virginia Baptist Resource Center.
Toward that end, a new Disaster Operations Center (DOC) has been developed in the Virginia Baptist Resource Center. The board has also started training their staff and volunteers for better awareness of their disaster response plan and in incident command systems (ICS). The two board staff members who are making primary contributions to this effort are Glenn Akins, assistant executive director and chief information officer and Terry Raines, coordinator for mobile mission and disaster relief.
The new DOC was opened on June 27 when the improved response plan and facilities were tested during a virtual disaster simulation exercise.
Virginia Baptists' initial involvement in disaster relief occurred after Hurricane Camille caused enormous destruction to the east coast in 1969. Through the years, significant change and growth has come, particularly following high profile responses to Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew and Isabel, to New York City after 9/11 and, most recently, to Katrina. As the ministries developed, the VBMB considered ways to implement and improve organization for the disaster relief program. Though individual efforts were helpful, they usually were not as productive as a cooperative effort would be; thus, Baptists have continued organizing themselves to better minister in the name of Jesus.
LAUREN HEILMAN
Staff member Nichole Bulls communicates with off-site workers during the simulation.
Like many other helping organizations, the VBMB's system for managing disaster response has been with the previously mentioned paper-based effort at board headquarters and with leaders at the disaster site working out of their pick-up trucks with note pads and CB radios. Though arguably not as efficient as it could have been, this approach was functional, mainly because disaster relief included only feeding people and clean up efforts with chainsaws and mud-out equipment.
But the enormity of operations in Virginia after Hurricane Isabel and outside the state following Hurricane Katrina along with the additions of crisis care chaplaincy, temporary child care and other new capabilities led to the VBMB leaders' realization that coordinating massive numbers of people and resources could not be done effectively with phones and post-it notes. A more structured approach is needed. Thus, the incident command system has been implemented for organizing people. And the off-site DOC and a mobile field coordination and command unit have been developed to provide better facilities for leaders carrying out this system.
The DOC set up at VBMB headquarters has Direct TV feeds so weather and news can be monitored; projection capabilities to display emergency management websites; and/or mapping of Baptist response site locations. It also has 12 work stations complete with individual telephone sets and computers for off-site coordinators to use. This center will be operated by VBMB staff and by volunteers during a disaster. The field based coordination and command unit will also offer HAM and Business Band radios, a satellite phone and computer and will allow internet access through both cellular and satellite connections. It will also offer two air-conditioned or heated offices from which disaster meals can be planned, recovery efforts coordinated and chaplaincy ministries networked.
During the recent virtual disaster and response training exercise, VBMB staff members and volunteers tried their best to identify the bugs, make improvements and respond in an orderly way to the given task.
“The objectives [of the virtual disaster] were to learn and to grow,” said Raines. “We discovered that we are on the right track with the improvements we have been making. And we discovered that we still have a lot of learning and growing to do before we can consider these changes fully implemented. Still if something were to happen tomorrow, we will be more ready to respond than we were before.”
The VBMB has some 3,000 trained disaster relief volunteers. Their response “fleet” includes two kitchens that can each produce 15,000 meals per day, a smaller kitchen that can feed 1,000 per day (and can be airlifted in to a targeted area), five mobile shower units, one laundry units, generators, water purification units, a mobile temporary child care unit, 11 recovery units focused on wind and water events, including mud-out units, chain saw units and the mobile command unit. Funding for disaster response comes from the Cooperative Missions budget, the Alma Hunt Offering for Virginia Missions and from special designated gifts.