The Creation of Self-Resiliency Through Neighbours Helping Neighbours

Micro-human efforts (MHE) can make a difference to individuals, families, and communities, as can be seen through disaster management efforts at local levels. Natural disasters have been increasing in frequency and severity. In 2021, natural events cost more than 148 billion dollars with 2017 setting a new record at over 350 billion dollars in damage (NOAA, 2022). As more people are threatened by these hazards, the need for self and community resilience becomes greater. Disasters are local in nature, requiring average citizens to rise to the occasion to help, demonstrating micro-human efforts towards resilience as they volunteer their time and talent to help others. Volunteers have become a vital part of disaster operations as there just are not enough professional responders to immediately help everyone who has needs during disasters. The use of volunteers comes with its own unique set of challenges, though. Unaddressed, these challenges from volunteer efforts can make the situation worse. There must be a system and a plan in place to be able to utilize volunteers and the micro human efforts that they represent in safe and efficient ways. It is important for communities to examine and embrace the available resources that are locally available to help teach preparedness to individuals, as well as help with mitigation, response, and recovery efforts. This is best done through organized and trained groups such as FEMA and Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT). These organizations can take the micro-human efforts that may pull in different directions and focus them on clear tasks to constructively help communities be more resilient. This chapter will make the case for individuals to pull their MHE efforts together in a coordinated way to save lives and make communities safer from disasters.