Spontaneous Volunteers in Emergencies and Disasters

*Mustafa Yükseler and Jale Yazgan*

### **Abstract**

Spontaneous volunteers are often involved in response and relief efforts during and after emergencies and disasters. These volunteers perform various tasks: search and rescue, first aid, response to fires, distributing food and water, cleaning debris, and caring for animals. It is clear that spontaneous volunteers have played a vital role in preventing the loss of life and property following emergencies and disasters in the past. However, the lack of organization and knowledge about emergencies and disasters among these volunteers creates challenges and risks like liability and security issues. These factors make professional responders reluctant to use spontaneous volunteers in emergencies and disasters. By completing a literature review on the benefits, challenges, and risks of spontaneous volunteers in emergency and disaster response and relief activities, we aim that this study will speed up the fundamental studies on the topic. Creating strategies for these volunteers' efficient usage and incorporating them into the current emergency and disaster management systems can significantly reduce disaster risks.

**Keywords:** emergency, disaster, volunteer, spontaneous volunteer, resilience

### **1. Introduction**

The frequency and effects of disasters are increasing globally. This increase parallels the increase in human–environment interaction, the number of persons exposed to hazards, and the increase in asset values. As of the 21st century, natural and man-made disasters such as September 1, 2001 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2011 East Japan earthquake, the Syria Crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic and climate migration, climate refugee, flood, drought, and desertification caused by climate change have had a global impact [1]. According to a report published in 2020 by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, there have been 7348 natural disasters in the past 20 years (2000–2019), and as a result of these disasters, approximately 1.23 million people have died, 4.2 billion people have been affected, and 2.97 trillion US dollars have been lost to global economic losses. According to the same report, disasters have become far more frequent and severe than they were in the past 20 years (1980–1999) (while 4212 natural disasters occurred, 1.19 million people died, 3.25 billion people were affected, and 1.63 trillion economic losses were caused globally) [2]. Emergency and disaster authorities worldwide and scientists in the field of emergency and disaster place a strong emphasis on

the disaster risk management approach, in contrast to crisis management-oriented disaster management approaches [3–6]. Making societies disaster-resistant is a crucial component of disaster risk management, in addition to reducing structural risks. There are many instances where emergencies and disasters outstrip a nation's response capacity. Volunteering is thus one of the key initiatives for enhancing societal resilience to disasters [3, 4, 7, 8].

Volunteering plays a significant role in many countries' response and recovery efforts during emergencies and disasters. When a disaster strikes, volunteers help in various fields, such as technical rescue, fire response, medical response, debris cleaning, logistical support, and transportation [8]. According to the World's Volunteerism Report, millions of volunteers participate in activities across a range of sectors, and their economic impact is equivalent to almost 61 million full-time employees per month based on the number of full-time employees [9]. These statistics show that volunteering activities are important for achieving sustainable development goals.

Volunteering activities in terms of emergencies and disasters are carried out in two ways as formal and informal [10]. The activities of the Red Cross or the Red Crescent organizations can be examples of formal volunteering. On the other hand, informal volunteering is when people go to the affected area voluntarily and engage in response and relief activities after an emergency or disaster event, called *"convergence reaction"* [11] in the literature. This has been happening instinctively since the existence of human beings. These volunteers who participate in emergency and disaster response and relief activities are referred to by several terms in the literature, including spontaneous volunteers, unorganized volunteers, unaffiliated volunteers, or informal volunteers [12, 13]. These volunteers are referred to in this study as "spontaneous volunteers". Various definitions of spontaneous volunteers can be found in the literature. Generally, they are defined as: *"spontaneous volunteers are individuals or groups of people who seek or are invited to contribute their assistance during and/or after an event, and who are unaffiliated with any part of the existing official emergency management response and recovery system and may or may not have relevant training, skills or experience"* [14]. During past emergencies and disasters, it can be argued that these volunteers performed crucial roles. Below are some of the disasters that spontaneous volunteers participated in:


Although spontaneous volunteers participate in various activities and make financial contributions during emergencies and disasters, their lack of training and skills in response and recovery activities might provide obstacles rather than benefits. Alexander [8] defined the reasons for this situation as illustrated in **Figure 1**.

According to the historical experiences above, spontaneous volunteers have significantly contributed to response and recovery studies, both qualitatively and quantitatively. For the reasons outlined in **Figure 1**, these volunteers nevertheless posed threats to not only the affected individuals but also the professional responders in the same disaster events. For instance, it was determined that 2.2 rescuers per person pulled alive from the debris in the 1985 Mexico City earthquake died because they lacked the necessary skills, knowledge, and tools for urban search and rescue [30]. Similar obstacles prevented emergency response teams from reaching the scene following the 1999 Turkey Marmara earthquake because spontaneous volunteers caused a 32-kilometer traffic jam [24, 30].

#### **Figure 1.**

*Barriers that unorganized volunteers may create in emergencies and disasters [8].*

The function of spontaneous volunteers in emergencies and disasters is discussed in this paper. The study aims to advance fundamental research on spontaneous volunteerism in emergencies and disasters. The study is divided into the following sections: volunteers as human resources in emergencies and disasters, spontaneous volunteers, benefits of spontaneous volunteers in emergencies and disasters, challenges and risks of spontaneous volunteers in emergencies and disasters, and conclusion.
