Their circumstances force them to face a bewildering number of decisions at a time when they are least able emotionally to think things through. In most disasters, the people of the community are the earliest responders. The police departments, firefighters, paramedics and other emergency workers, church leaders, public officials, and ordinary citizens are all there before, during, and usually after the disaster. By its very nature, a disaster is an event that causes human suffering and need which its victims cannot handle without assistance. Still, it is essential that the victims of disasters begin to take ownership for their own recovery as soon as possible.
Recovery is dependent upon their regaining the sense of control that they lost when disaster struck.
The use of volunteers that respond from within the stricken community allows local ownership of the disaster to begin. In most cases, however, members of the community soon realize that their needs far exceed their own time and ability to care for themselves. They are victims. This is where mission volunteers are needed. Our role as outside volunteers is to give disaster victims a lift that can, for a time, relieve them of overwhelming burdens.