Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response Associations

Civil Protection Organizations

In their place, associations have risen up to cater to disaster risk reduction and response. They can broadly be divided between civil protection organizations and humanitarian agencies. The former are rarely international in scope, although they may engage in international operations. Instead, domestic voluntary organizations may be national or local, and may be completely autonomous or federated into regional or national bodies. As the theater of operations in a disaster is always the local area, the home-grown forces are of paramount importance.

Countries vary in the extent to which they utilize volunteers to respond to disasters, and the state of volunteerism in the world is in flux as a result of the momentous changes that are occurring in modern society. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom, have an established volunteerism tradition (for example, the St. John's Ambulance Brigades), but make relatively little use of volunteer forces. Others, such as Italy and Germany, have large numbers of volunteers. For example, Technisches Hilfswerk (THW) in Germany is a technical emergency response association with 80,000 volunteers and 669 bases around the nation. In Italy, 3,600 civil protection voluntary associations are registered with the government. About 1 percent of these are national in scope. One, the Venerable Archiconfraternity of the Misericordia, was founded in Florence in 1244 and is the world's oldest voluntary relief association. In Australia, the small size and remoteness of many communities means that organized volunteers may be the only means of providing vital services, especially for fighting bushfires.

Civil protection associations may specialize in any particular aspect of emergency response, including search-and-rescue, medical first aid, urban or environmental firefighting, the evacuation and care of vulnerable people, psychological assistance, radio communications, and logistics. However, when a crisis occurs, they may be called upon to carry out other functions. For example, the Italian National Association of Public Assistance Groups (ANPAS) provides medical transportation and care, as well as logistical aid, in times of both normality and disaster. Generally, to maintain both operability and their charitable status, such organizations receive financial support from government sources, in addition to donations from supporters and sponsors. However, they provide salaries or wages to no more than a tiny support staff.

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