In between writing this, I am packing for our family’s camping trip. As I tossed the tent on the growing pile of stuff in the garage, I thought of the hundreds of families still living in tents in Haiti. Though they are in a very different setting, those tents have the same duty as ours – to provide shelter. The Haitian earthquake is only one disaster for which Word & Deed has collected money. What really happens with the money we give for disaster relief?

Let’s imagine there was a disaster where you live – a hurricane, tornado, earthquake or landslide.  The power is out and the phone is dead. There’s no water. You can’t get to a safe place because the roads are blocked or your car is wrecked. You can’t go shopping – the stores have the same problem you do. What would you need? How would you get it?

Disaster relief includes three steps, preparation, rescue, and recovery. Preparation starts long before any disaster strikes.

PREPARE

First of all, you might have an emergency kit to help you survive for at least three days: water, canned food, candles, matches, and other useful things for your whole family. People who live in risky places should have one of these kits.

RESCUE

Next, you hope that by the time your supplies run out, someone will come to rescue you. Your government will have started a rescue mission, which might include organizations like Word & Deed. They will either drive you to a temporary safe place, like a school gym far from the danger, or give you supplies to live (food, water, and fuel). If your house isn’t safe, and there’s no place to go, they might give you a tent. Camping would take on a whole new meaning and take lots of creativity.

RECOVER

If the damage can’t be fixed for a year or more, you would either stay in your house or start a new life elsewhere. If you’d stay in your home for a year without power or water, your life would change a LOT. Somebody would have to bring you bulk supplies of food and water. It wouldn’t be fancy: recovery supplies include whole wheat, beans, dried milk, corn, cooking oil, and vitamins. If you didn’t have a vegetable garden before, you would certainly be happy to start one. You would also have to build an outhouse.

All this would cost a lot of money, and at first, you wouldn’t be able (or expected) to pay for it yourself. When Word & Deed helps with disaster relief, the money goes to these things involved in rescue and recovery:

travel costs to bring rescuers into a disaster area

supplies to keep victims living – food, water, shelter, medicine

evacuation

supplies to rebuild homes

supplies to rebuild infrastructure (roads, bridges, telephone poles and electrical wires) so that life can return to normal

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So, what’s going to be in your emergency kit? Make a list of everything your family would need to survive three days (72 hours) stuck at home without electricity or water. See how your list compares with the one here? I’ll start making mine when we get back from camping!