Disaster Response & Preparedness 2011

When Your Life or Neighborhood Looks Like This:

Who do you call?

Where do you go for help?

Are you ready?

Jesus told the disciples that the end times will include earthquakes, famines and other calamities in:

a. Matthew 24:4-14.

b. Mark 13:5-11.

c. Luke 21:5-19.

Revelation describes the same kinds of events before the 2nd. Coming of Jesus.

What should our response to these events look like?

2 Kings 4:1-2: One day the widow of one of Elisha’s fellow prophets came to Elisha and cried out to him, “My husband who served you is dead, and you know how he feared the Lord. But now a creditor has come, threatening to take my two sons as slaves.” “What can I do to help you?” Elisha asked. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?”

Matthew 25:37-40: “Then these righteous ones will reply, „Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison, and visit you?‟ And the King will tell them, I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

Everyday in our communities people are in crisis – death of a family member, divorce, lost jobs, medical diagnosis that is not favorable.

Church should be the safest place to come and be open and honest about the trials we face.

Training to be better equipped is simple and can expand to meet the needs of a community.

Many programs already exist that a church can use to meet the needs of the hurting.

Post 9-11, President Bush signed HSPD #5 authorizing the development of the National Incident Management System or NIMS.

NIMS allows faith based organizations to serve as long as volunteers are trained to respond.

NIMS is continually modified and changed to deal with issues that arise after a national disaster and or a change in local, state and federal governments.

The Assemblies of God is currently developing a national response plan through the Chaplaincy Department.

All national and state organizations, like the Small Business Administration (SBA) or Convoy of Hope have criteria that must be met before they will deploy.

Earthquake in Japan and the ensuing Nuclear Reactor issues kept outside resources at bay for many, many days.

Some communities in the Mid-West set their own criteria for volunteers that had to be met before they were allowed to serve.

Many counties are not willing to share their volunteers with other counties because of fiduciary responsibility.

More and more communities will not use spontaneous, unaffiliated volunteers.

VOAD – Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster are looking for churches to be a part of their response.

There are liability issues that each church must consider.

The following link from the State Office of Emergency Services Website can tell you the risks your church is facing regarding flooding, fire, earthquake or in low lying coastal regions a tsunami http://myhazards.calema.ca.gov

States Department of Emergency Services Home Page: http://dem.nv.gov/Home/DEM_Home/

Are You Prepared? Plan Ahead Nevada EmergnecyMitigation Guide: http://dps.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/dpsnvgov/content/Citizen/evacuationguide_PAN.pdf

State requires OSHA training for some skilled workers and our District Assessment Team can provide the proper training.

Developed a Disaster Relief Task Force and an Assessment Team that is ready to train and assist the local church.

District Presbytery has approved the following as our standard for response:

a. District Response Plan.

b. Training Matrix for all volunteers and leadership.

c. Risk Assessment for our District Affiliated Churches.

We are members of Northern California VOAD at the State Level.

Can assist any of our churches to connect with their local VOAD or if a local VOAD does not exist connect with your local Office of Emergency Services.

Christ Centered Training Offered

• 4 Hour Introduction to Crisis & Disaster Response.

• 1 Day – Piece by Peace: Discovering God’s Plan for Dealing with Death, Trauma, Divorce and Other Losses in Our Lives.

• 2 Day Training in Critical Incident Stress Management.

• Church Planning and Preparation.

• Assessment Team offers a day of training that each section can sponsor which includes the Introduction to Crisis and Disaster Response Seminar.

The Need Is Great

Will You Go?

The only Piece Missing is You