“Your County Manager has just gone to a federally sponsored program on getting volunteers to support the management and administrative side of disaster and recovery portions of emergency management.
The Manager attended a seminar on a program called ‘Professional Volunteer Disaster Survey Team (PRO-V-DST)’ which had been developed in Texas in the mid-1990’s.
She was quite enthusiastic about the program as it provides:
A network of professional building inspectors, structural engineers, and architects to form damage survey teams that could be used by State and local governments in need of help surveying damage and evaluating structures following a disaster.
In assessing post disaster flood damage to structures in one county, PRO-V-DST impressed the county engineer of that county, who had been overwhelmed by the number of structures requiring a determination of substantial damage, by completing its evaluation in just 2 days.
The last tornado your county suffered took weeks to get the survey done and then some of it had to be done over.
The County Manager was sold on this program because it would provide professional damage survey resources at what appears to be no expenses as the teams provide volunteer labor, and FEMA provides the funding for meals, lodging, and travel expenses.
What difficulties would you have to overcome in implementing a similar program in your county? Although Volunteers providing emergency services are legally protected from civil liability in North Carolina (NC General Statute Section 1- 539.10), convincing the employers of the proposed network of professionals that their policy is protected may cause concern if injury or death occurs as a result of the volunteer work.
Screening, qualifying, and building teams. Create another office within the County’s Office of Emergency Management to manage PRO-V-DST, fund and hire, take away from