The disaster relief response to Hurricane Isabel is the largest in the 37-year history of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, said Mickey Caison, adult volunteer mobilization manager for the North American Mission Board (NAMB).
Tommy Puckett, director of disaster relief for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said Alabama’s contribution to that effort is the largest simultaneous deployment of teams that it has seen.
“We’ve probably provided them with as many volunteers as any state in the immediate area,” Puckett said.
Caison said, “We have as much involved with the first three days of this as with all of 9/11.
“During 9/11 (the response to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.) we probably used more state conventions and resources, but it was over a nine-month period,” he said.
As of press time, nine Alabama chain saw and cleanup teams from the associations of Baldwin, Birmingham, Columbia, Calhoun/Etowah, Limestone/Madison, Marshall, Sand Mountain and Tennessee River had
been deployed or were slated to be deployed.
The majority were sent to the Virginia Beach, Va., and Williamston, N.C., areas. One feeding unit from Morgan Association and the state communications and shower trailers had been sent to other areas in North Carolina and Virginia. A total of 116 volunteer teams from 22 state Baptist conventions had been deployed to the storm-ravaged areas as of Sept. 25.
“The aspect of the magnitude of cleanup and recovery is more response than we’ve ever had in the past,” Puckett said.
He added that after this week, more Alabama teams would probably not be sent, since Alabama disaster relief is only sending people trained in the needed disaster relief aspects. “We’ve pretty much exhausted our resources as far as (crews of) trained volunteers,” he said.
Two units which may be deployed for a while are the shower and communications trailers. Puckett said the state units are manned by indiviuals or couples, and they will probably be relieved in week-long rotations.
Huntsville’s Larry Murphy, Alabama state coordinator of disaster relief, is in Virginia, coordinating for NAMB all units deployed to the state. “Things are going as well as could be expected because the disaster is so widespread,” he said.
While the loss of life and property damage were not as great as previous storms, Caison said the response is large because of the size of the storm and the densely populated areas affected.
The storm brought some flooding in coastal areas and in the northern states, but the bulk of the damage was from downed trees — and the subsequent loss of power that affected millions. Southern Baptist disaster relief efforts consequently have been focused on either clearing fallen trees or preparing meals for those without power at home.
The scope of the deployment also is an indicator of how much the Southern Baptist disaster relief network has grown over the past decade to nearly 400 units and 28,000 trained volunteers. There is often a surge in new units after each major disaster.
For example, many units formed after Hurricane Hugo ripped through the Carolinas in 1989.
Alabama currently has close to 1,700 volunteers trained in all aspects of disaster relief, according to Puckett.
Contributions for the Hurricane Isabel response may be sent to: Disaster Relief, Alabama Baptist State Convention, P.O. Box 11870, Montgomery, Ala. 36111. For more information on disaster relief, go to www.thealabamabaptist.org.
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