2022 Hurricane Ian

Event

Hurricane Ian, a large and destructive Category 4 Atlantic hurricane, caused widespread damage across western Cuba and the southeast United States, especially the states of Florida and South Carolina between September 23, 2022 and October 1, 2022. Ian became a high-end Category 4 hurricane early on September 28, 2022, as it progressed towards the west coast of Florida and made landfall at near peak intensity in southwest Florida. The tropical storm then moved into the Atlantic and reintensified to hurricane strength before making landfall a second time in South Carolina.

Volunteer

Crisis Cleanup, a coordination website for disaster relief agencies, opens and operates a remote call center where disaster survivors can register their cleanup needs (temporary roof repair, mucking and gutting, debris clearance, etc.). Voluntary agencies like NECHAMA can then access these recorded needs and deploy their volunteer teams to help disaster survivors clean up or repair their property and homes.

Currently, Crisis Cleanup is experiencing unprecedented call volume (as of 10/3/22 over 6,000 calls per day) and is in need of volunteers to serve as call line operators to take disaster survivors’ calls and log their needs into the Crisis Cleanup database. Crisis Cleanup can offer training on how to answer calls and log needs into the system. The basic training is twenty minutes with an optional 25 additional minutes for those who want to know more. Time commitments are flexible and based on the availability of each program/volunteer, however, 2-4 hour shifts are typical and consistency is key. At this time, they do not anticipate the need expect the need beyond 15 days.

If you do not have the ability to be a part of a physical response or cannot travel at this time, this is an excellent way to provide assistance from your home. This is just as needed and is critical at this point in the response.

All volunteers will work from their own homes. Requirements include:

*A telephone (landline or cell phone)
*A computer with reliable internet access (tablets and smartphones will not work with this database).

Follow the link below to complete a brief Google Survey expressing your interest and to provide your contact information.

Volunteer Sign-up Form