Citation

Barsky LE, Trainor JE, Torres MR, Aguirre BE. Disasters 2007; 31(4): 495-507.

Affiliation

Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, US.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-7717.2007.01021.x

PMID

18028166

Abstract

In the aftermath of disasters it is not uncommon for a large number of individuals, ranging from professional technical responders to untrained, albeit well meaning, volunteers, to converge on site of a disaster in order to offer to help victims or other responders. Because volunteers can be both a help and a hindrance in disaster response, they pose a paradox to professional responders at the scene. Through focus group interviews and in-depth structured interviews, this paper presents an extended example of how Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) task forces, a type of professional technical-responder organisation, interact with and utilise volunteers. Findings show that US&R task forces evaluate the volunteers in terms of their presumed legitimacy, utility, and potential liability or danger posed during the disaster response. Other responses to volunteers such as a feeling of powerlessness or the use of volunteers in non-technical ways are also explored. This paper demonstrates some key aspects of the relationship between volunteers and formal response organisations in disasters.

Language: en