Scouts Join Disaster Relief Efforts after a Tornado Hit Czechia
A few weeks after a tornado devastatingly affected the lives of several villages in South Moravia, a region in the East of Czechia, local Scouts together with other young volunteers are still on site to support the disaster areas. The members of the local Scout groups quickly implemented a crisis management system, including logistics, personnel, communication and IT departments. Two hundred young people have been directly involved in the mobilisation and coordination of assistance interventions in the area.
Immediately after the first reports of the devastating impact of the tornado, Scouts from the vicinity of the tragic event,rushed to mobilise and the House of Culture of Hodonín turned rapidly into a help centre dedicated to the distribution of essential supplies such as bedding, water, hygiene and cleaning items.
"The House of Culture has become a warehouse and at the same time a central place for managing and organising the distribution of volunteers. In agreement with the municipalities affected, we were coordinating hundreds of people” said Pavel Martinek, a member of the coordination team.
"The volume of work and material was constantly growing, so we gradually had to create a dedicated structure with specialized teams also involving professionals. In the end, we were in charge of several warehouses, because the wave of solidarity was really huge. None of us would have believed anything like that could happen” added Martinek.
An essential part of the work was dedicated to communications, so the volunteers created a call center for accepting offers and requests for help, and for a similar purpose they also used the Facebook page of the House of Culture.
"We tried our best and as quickly as possible to connect everyone who offered or needed help and distribute the material" explained the communications coordinator Lucie Lněničková.
Members of the Czech Red Cross also took a significant part in the activities carried out at the House of Culture, using the facilities also for their psychologists and staff. The CRC also passed on its own experience from similar events to the volunteers and the head of the Central Crisis Staff of the CRC congratulated the Scouts for the efforts made.
One of the coordinators at the House of Culture was the top softball pitcher and Scout Michal Holobrádek, who reached Hodonín immediately after the end of the European Championship, where he won the gold medal.
"I have always being fully aware of the importance of Scouting, especially of how it can have a real impact on the environment and other people. It's valuable to see how people who didn't know each other could work together side by side” added Holobrádek.
Not only Scouts and the Red Cross staff, but also a number of individuals, volunteer firefighters, Greenpeace activists, students took part in the volunteer work at the House of Culture. The activities are slightly slowing down, the House of Culture will soon resume its regular program and all material will be moved to a new warehouse managed by the city of Hodonín.
"I think we were able to show all the volunteers, especially to those who had never been Scouts, how we work together and we help each other because together we are stronger” concluded Matěj Zicháček, the teams coordinator.
Photo credits: Pavel Ligr
Original article: here