Helping is the American Way.
OK, it is in my book of How to Be the Perfect American. I fall short a lot, but hey, I try.
There are times, though, when I need to learn to butt out. I can't always be the one riding to the rescue, even though I have accumulated a great many skills for that very purpose.
It's fairly common in major disasters to have all kinds of people coming out of the woodwork to help. I totally understand the instinct and desire to make things better. Sadly, though, many of the people are responding to their kindly urges without any background in providing the help that is needed.
It's so easy to get the skills needed to be useful when a disaster happens that I think everyone should get at least the bare minimum necessary skills. The Red Cross has an excellent First Responder/First Aid/CPR/AED set of classes. You could join a local Civilian Response Corp or CERT and get all kinds of training that way. Many local fire stations offer CPR and basic fire safety and first aid classes as well.
There are times when you will be the only available help, and it's kinda nice to know what you're doing when that happens.
But for many disasters, that urge needs to be channeled in a direction other than rushing out to the scene and injecting yourself into the proceedings if you are not on the spot or trained to provide specific help. Too many untrained bodies can actually cause harm instead of help, so redirecting your commendable urge to help to useful areas is what you really want to be doing anyway.
I know a lot of professionals are going to disagree with me, because I firmly and fervently believe that we all have the right to reach out and provide help. During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I was appalled, utterly appalled at the way "civilians" were treated and locked out of the rescue and assistance process. There was no need for that.
The professionals who arrived after the disaster was over shut out those who were on the spot and who knew what was going on, knew the terrain and knew the temperament of the people living in the area. The professionals (and I use the term kind of loosely here) should have utilized this font of information and set up ways for the locals to be of useful assistance. Maybe having them set up in-take locations (the Army could provide those great hulking GP-Large tents to shelter the donations until they could be distributed, for example), and set up concessions for feeding the rescuers and the rescuees. Have them create bundles of care packs to give to the rescuees. All kinds of things. Instead, they were called names, forcibly prevented from helping, and all kinds of bad feelings arose.
When the Murrah Building was blown up in OKC, the locals were there to sweep up broken glass, staunch bleeding, call for help, guide the survivors to safer locations, and otherwise handle things until the professionals arrived. Once the fire and police showed up, the locals weren't shunted aside. They were led to places where the survivors could be taken to them, given the tasks of taking names, contacting relatives, getting them triaged and on to medical help if needed, asked to bring supplies and food. And the professionals never once hesitated to involve the locals in the process.
Yes, it was the trained people who went into the rubble, and who provided the medical care, and who did the shoring up and cleaning up, but they recognized the intense need of those who came to help and were otherwise untrained and assigned them useful tasks that made them feel they were doing something - collecting and inventorying supplies, making beds for the rescuers, cooking and feeding them, keeping them hydrated, manning the phone banks, enlisting the gawkers into helping, too.
And America went from that to the lock-out of locals and concerned citizens at Katrina/Rita.
I don't know what happened, but I didn't like it.
So here are some situations where you should redirect your need to help:
1. If you need specialized training, as in basic common sense or basic first aid skills are not enough and that's all you have, do something else. Don't go jumping in the raging river to rescue someone if your swimming skills are weak or non-existent. If you've got rope or an inflatable to toss to the person in the water, you can do that, but don't put yourself in a position where you have to be rescued, too. You'll get hurt, you'll piss everyone off, and the person you are trying to rescue may end up dying because you got in the way. Shout encouragement, tell the person help is on the way, be a beacon for the rescue workers to find you and then the person needing the help. If there's already someone doing that, don't get in the way. Stay back. You can apply this to practically any situation.
2. If you need a team to effect the rescue or to handle the disaster or emergency and it's just you - call for help. Offer encouragement until a rescue team arrives - that team has been trained to work together and they have complementary skills so they can get the job done efficiently, safely, and effectively.
3. If you need specialized gear and you don't have it, say for helping people caught on a collapsing bridge and you are not caught on that bridge yourself, stay out of the way. Yes, it's tough being a spectator, so make sure you're a good spectator - make sure you're not blocking emergency vehicles or other traffic, are not yourself a traffic hazard or about to become one, and keep others in your group from getting in the way.
4. If it's a natural disaster (hurricane, volcano, earthquake, flood, forest fire...), and the disaster is over and you weren't caught up in it - say you live in Oklahoma and a major quake took out a city in California - don't hop in your car and drive pell-mell to California to help out if you're not part of a professional response team. People closer to the affected area are there to do anything you could do, and faster. Consider instead collecting and shipping water, shelter, clothes, first aid supplies, and food. Be the first in line to donate blood and plasma. Those are useful things to do. If you're local, consider offering to staff a food booth set up by local restaurants to feed the rescue workers. Offer to inventory incoming supplies. That sort of thing that needs doing while the professionals do what they were trained to do.
5. If you'll need legal coverage afterwards (yes, some assholes will sue their rescuers after a disaster), let the professionals handle it. They have insurance coverage and legal representation to protect them that you won't have. You can offer encouragement and call for help. I know, it hurts to not do more, but unless you have really deep pockets, in our litigious society, rescuing some people comes with serious risks and drawbacks.
6. If you need to be credentialed - ie a doctor or a fireman - and you're not, don't lie so you can run in to help. Not only would you be putting yourself at risk, you'd endanger others by your potential lack of skills and knowledge. Get credentialed and you won't have to worry as much.
7. If there's a possibility that you might get lost, go missing, or even get arrested, you need to be in a position where the powers-that-be know you are there and will come looking for you. If you're not an official part of the rescue or the disaster clean-up, not part of a team, who's going to know to look for you? Find something else to do that won't put you at risk and will provide an outlet for your need to help.
If the disaster is happening to you, in your home, in your neighborhood or your immediate location, do what you can. Otherwise, don't self-dispatch yourself somewhere you might not survive, or worse, where you might cause more harm than help.
There are plenty of ways to help that don't involve making things worse. I've already mentioned Red Cross training, and joining CRC or CERT organizations. You might also consider FEMA (it's gotten better), or Doctors Without Borders, or local search and rescue teams, a volunteer fire department, the American Radio Relay League, NOVA, your church's disaster response team (and if your church doesn't have one, you can create one), Points of Light, React, International, Volunteers of America, or similar organizations.
After a disaster or crises or accident, if you want to help, here are some good ways to do so:
1. Get certified. Learn how to provide emergency help and become part of a team.
2. Collect needed items (water, food, shelter, clothes, first aid supplies, rescue dog paw protectors, tools, etc)
3. Donate to pay for shipping the supplies to the disaster area
4. Man phone lines
5. Learn and teach preparedness skills
6. Publicize the disaster to draw in more supplies and funds
7. Don't forget pets and farm animals in disasters - collect and send essential supplies for them: food, first aid supplies, bedding, crates, collars, leashes, harnesses, leads, etc
If you're close enough,
1. Inventory incoming supplies
2. Staff food booths to feed the rescuers and survivors
3. Staff a supply booth to dispense supplies
4. Staff a relaxation booth for the rescuers - massage tables, music, aromatherapy...
5. Staff a shelter for the rescued
6. Staff a pet shelter to care for pets until they are reunited with their owners
There's more, of course. The one thing I hated most about Bush was his whole "go shopping" suggestion for people desperate to help and desperate to be a positive part of events.
The most important thing is to learn when and how you can provide the best help, and then do that.