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Any Advice On This Type Of Work?

Since I am a person who wishes to help people that are affected by natural disasters, what are some good places/resources to check out to gain experience in that field?

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Ryan’s Answer

Hello Destiny! Great question; I applaud your interest in helping others. There are many ways you can get involved in disaster response, including the ones already mentioned by others. The ones I will suggest that haven't been mentioned already are:

1) Firefighting and/or Emergency Medical Services. To start, you will be mostly responding to local and smaller scale disasters. But, like Rebecca mentioned, this will get you the skills you will need to respond to larger incidents. It's not likely you'll get sent to a disaster zone with 5,000 victims if you haven't proven you can handle 5 victims somewhere first! Once you have a little experience the opportunities really open up - like getting on a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u96wctwwHls) or a "Type III Incident Management Team."

2) Another option I recommend is military service - particularly the US Coast Guard or US Air Force. The USCG is an integral part of many disaster responses, included hurricanes which occur regularly. In the Air Force I was assigned to Air Mobility Command, and you could be too! Air Mobility Command operates all the military's cargo aircraft - including aeromedical evacuations, worldwide contingency response teams, and airlifts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Ntr0OZ9es).

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions about either of these options. Good luck!
Thank you comment icon Thank you, Ryan! I really appreciate your suggestions for my question, I'll definitely consider starting small or throwing myself into military service, haha. Have a great day! Destiny
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Charlie’s Answer

Hello,
Since you are a person who wishes to help people affect by natural disasters, some good places/resources to check out would be outreaches. Any outreach program may be a good place to start.
Thank you comment icon Thank you, Charlie! I'll be on the lookout, I think outreach programs are great for students like me. Destiny
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Sikawayi’s Answer

Hello Destiny, thank you for your question. I would suggest that you reach out to your local Red Cross, this would be a very good place to start. You can also check out your local shelters they are always looking for volunteers to help out. Most city's also have emergency organizations that you can become a part of. Best of luck
Thank you comment icon Awesome input, really love the list of places to go out and explore. Thanks a bunch Sikawayi!! Have a great day Destiny
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Rebecca’s Answer

Hi, thank you for your question. I am glad that you would like to help others.
I suggest you could seek for jobs in some NGOs, e.g. Medecins Sens Frontiers, Red Cross, World Vision, UNHCR, etc.
However, they may need someone who has professional skills, eg medical, engineering, etc. when supporting the casualties in the natural disaster.
I suggest you consider to complete the relevant courses in the college. You can add value to the support you can give.
Hope this helps! Good Luck！
Thank you comment icon Hey Rebecca! I love your list of places I could scope out - it definitely helps because I haven't heard of at least half of them, lol! I know Red Cross actually conduct internships for summers and provide training certifications, so I'll look into that a bit more. Thanks!! Destiny
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Eric’s Answer

Destiny, you have received some good suggestions, thus far, about how to gain experience in the field of natural disaster response. A couple of other fields to consider include many of the design fields that seek to prevent catastrophe during a natural disaster. These are not front line, response roles but they are related. For example, environmental scientists and engineers, geotechnical engineers, structural engineers and hydrology engineers provide needed research associated to natural disasters and they design systems, components and structures that should withstand the devastating affects of natural disasters. FEMA often seeks out experienced engineers to assist with the later stages of disaster response. There are also many professional societies that have a list of their members that are willing to deploy to disaster regions should the need arise. All the best!
Thank you comment icon Hello Eric, thanks for the many engineering-related fields I could potentially go into that also help contribute against the impacts from natural disasters. I'll be on the lookout for when FEMA needs somebody (as soon as I am well-prepared in that field myself, haha). Thank you again for your great advice! Destiny
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