Local faith communities and their motivations for involvement in disaster management activities

Abstract

Local faith Communities (LFCs), with their teachings, practices, resources, and structural organization, are increasingly being identified as vital sources of partnership in Disaster Management (DM) activities. Unfortunately, the voices of LFCs themselves have not always been widely represented. Most research into these partnerships has been conducted from the perspective of Disaster Management Specialists and Organizations (DMSOs) and their respective goals. The aim of this research is to dialogue with individuals identified as “leaders” in LFCs to capture insights into their motivations for playing a role in such partnerships. The primary research question is, “How do members of local faith communities perceive their role(s) in response to disasters?” Data gathering utilized semi-structured interviews with individuals from a variety of LFCs in the southern Vancouver Island region and used a generic qualitative research approach to explore the question. This research was also a form of action research insofar as the author sought to encourage dialogue within LFCs concerning DM and their role(s) with it. Partnership between DMSOs and LFCs, in order to be a true partnership, multidisciplinary in nature, requires an open and honest willingness to listen to one another’s perspectives, misgivings, and motivations. This research is an attempt to hear the voices of LFCs and provide DMSOs with important insights. The research indicated that LFC leaders had a clear understanding of what constituted a “disaster” and how their communities can play a role in preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery activities through providing material and human resources, as well as social capital. Many leaders highlighted their organization’s focus on social justice and special efforts to support marginalized communities in times of disaster. Though low numbers, limited resources, and aging membership were realities which hindered some LFCs capacity to respond to disasters, all participants clearly identified “compassion” as the most significant motivating factor and mandate for responding, in whatever way possible. Moving forward, there is potential value in developing more and deeper bi-directional training opportunities to build closer partnerships between LFCs and DMSOs. Keywords: religion, local faith communities, disaster, disaster management, partnership, training, motivation, interdisciplinary, social capital, compassion, hindrances