Disaster Preparedness

Volunteers will come when a disaster strikes... is your agency ready?

In partnership with Offices Emergency Services and other key disaster responders, The Volunteer Center stands ready to deploy spontaneous volunteers city-wide in the event of a disaster.

When a disaster strikes, we mobilize individuals immediately by setting up a countywide phone bank. If phone service is disrupted, we set up a Volunteer Reception Center for walk-in volunteers.

Phone bank staff proactively contact local governments and community-based agencies to get information on where and how many volunteers are needed, and with what skills. Trained staff and volunteers at the phone banks quickly assess potential volunteers' skills and availability to match them with the requests for assistance.

• Get help developing or updating your agency's emergency response plan from CARD (Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disaster). In San Francisco County, www.sfcard.org. In San Mateo County, 650-524-4900.
• View a list of disaster volunteer management resources to help you develop your plan.
• Download a PDF of Getting Ready for Disaster Volunteers: A Guide for Community-Based Organizations *.
• Download a Disaster Intake Form template you can customize for your agency's needs*.
• More disaster preparedness links
• For more information on disaster volunteer management, call 415-982-8999.

 

*Please note, these files are in either Adobe PDF or Microsoft Word format and are viewable in your browser using the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in and Microsoft Word, respectively. If you need Acrobat, it is available for free at the Adobe website. If you do not have Word, there is a free Word 97/2000 Viewer available at the Microsoft Download Center. If you're not sure if you need the plug-in, attempt to view a file. Your browser will alert you if it is unable to read it.

You can print these files by hitting the 'print' button in your browser while viewing the files. You can also download and save the files to your hard drive for viewing and printing off-line with the Acrobat Reader. To download rather than view in your browser, right-click (Windows) or click and hold (Mac) then choose "save this link as..."

 
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