With climate change getting worse and the government barely in sight to help, it’s important that neighbors know they can band together. There are still residents in Harris County recovering from Winter Storm Uri and even Hurricane Harvey as they wait for government assistance that may never come — especially if they are in a historically disenfranchised community. How can neighbors help each other during a disaster?
Residents Doris and David from the Northeast Action Collective recently interviewed with me to discuss how their area prepares for disaster. The Northeast Action Collective (NAC) is a community group of disaster survivors that work together to create community care outside the government.
“After Rita, we stopped relying on FEMA. We stopped asking. A lot of my family knows how to rebuild so we did and we moved on.
I didn’t realize how rigged it is against us until NAC.” — David said. Listen to the full interview.
Since Hurricane Harvey, their neighborhood has set up a system that provides immediate community care in wake of a disaster or an emergency. They have created hub houses within their neighborhood that stores items that vary from need to need. Each hub house stores supplies, food, and equipment required for emergencies, and serves as a point of immediate aid for the surrounding residents.
“It would be like a port in the storm. Instead of trying to get to George R Brown, having a place in your community.
Sometimes you just gotta look out for yourselves.” — Doris said. Listen to the full interview.
There are currently four hubs and the collective is in the process of setting up a fifth hub. Each hub house has about 10 people on the roster, but the hub house is meant to serve the surrounding community. Part of having the roster system is to identify elderly and disabled. Most of the residents know they have somewhere close that can help them during time of crisis.
Doris’ home currently serves as hub house for surrounding residents. After Winter Storm Uri, for example, her home was the point of community care. Residents that did have electricity brought cooked food to her home, which was then distributed within the area for about a week. Her house also stored the water key, which was used to shut off water to homes nearby that had busted pipes.
“[The hub houses] originated from the thought that we are the first boots on the ground after an emergency. Waiting on the government, the municipalities, they are missing in action. They show up five or six days later. What is that?
So, we have to do it ourselves. And this is where the hub house idea originated from. Uri showed us what we didn’t have at the time, and that made us brainstorm with the community and come up with more things that were needed…
I think FEMA comes to deny you, not to help you. They came two weeks after Harvey, denied me, and I was expecting that. And I’m still waiting for the Red Cross. And that was 2017. Red Cross hasn’t got there yet. This is my thought pattern on this. This is why the hub houses are so important. For the community to look out for themselves.” — Doris said. Listen to the full interview.
How do I create this in my neighborhood?
Step 1: Get neighbors involved
- Talk to your neighbors to gauge interest, provide educational materials via a link.tree
“If you don’t know your neighbors, go out and talk to them. Invite them to your house. Explain to them and try to get them more involved in it.
Brainstorm and see whose house would be a hub house, who has enough room, and everybody contribute.” — Doris
- Invite neighbors that are interested to your house to have a meeting and be sure to have food
- Collectively assess what neighbors will need and incorporate it into a disaster plan
- Who are the electricians? The builders? Who has the know-how to do it and educate fellow residents?
“Also identify who are the electricians, the builders, and let them know their knowledge is very valued. They are probably going to rebuild their home, but maybe they need help from a plumber.
We can help each other. Eventually you will become a family. You will feel like you can count on each other.” — David
- Determine who will have the hub house holding all the food, meds, and equipment
- Determine block leaders to help coordinate efforts
- Determine means of communicating with each other, like WhatsApp
Step 2: Gather supplies
- Create a pool of money between all the residents to buy disaster prep items and tools
- Do some fundraising
- Apply for grants, like with the EPA or Grants.gov
- Check to see if your city offers grants
- Everybody pitches in for key items (water, canned food, meds) for disaster prep before getting bigger ticket items like a generator
Step 3: Disaster or crisis strikes
- Take care of each other with the supplies in the hub house
“Once the disaster passes, we assess what damage has been done. It’s not a quick thing, get some volunteers out who know what they’re doing or at least willing to help to get the house back as normal as possible.” — David
- Have meetings after the disaster to determine refilling supplies or getting new, different supplies
Community care means not doing it alone
West Street Recovery and the Northeast Action Collective does trainings and has information on how to put this together in your neighborhood.
“With the help of the neighborhood and community, we need to do this. And we decided we’d do it ourselves. A lot of our residents were on board for it.
They wanted somewhere they could go, close by, in case of an emergency or disaster.” — Doris said. Listen to the full interview.
A huge art of the disaster prep is community building. Aside from having a WhatsApp chat group, the residents in the neighborhood meet every other week. Whether it’s to hang out or to prepare for the next emergency, they make time to become friends.
For each meeting, there are interpreters to make sure everyone has access, regardless of language barrier. They also accommodate to the needs of anyone disabled to ensure everyone is included. This is all volunteer work residents do for each other, this is all community care to make sure everyone is accounted for and safe in an emergency.
“At this point, we genuinely care that our neighbors are doing well and that they’re okay. We have a whatsapp where we update each other on surgeries, birthdays, life.” — David
