@article{ref1,
title="Managing volunteers: FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue programme and interactions with unaffiliated responders in disaster response",
journal="Disasters",
year="2007",
author="Barsky, Lauren E. and Trainor, Joseph E. and Torres, Manuel R. and Aguirre, Benigno E.",
volume="31",
number="4",
pages="495-507",
abstract="In the aftermath of disasters it is not uncommon for a large number of individuals, ranging from professional technical responders to untrained, albeit well meaning, volunteers, to converge on site of a disaster in order to offer to help victims or other responders. Because volunteers can be both a help and a hindrance in disaster response, they pose a paradox to professional responders at the scene. Through focus group interviews and in-depth structured interviews, this paper presents an extended example of how Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) task forces, a type of professional technical-responder organisation, interact with and utilise volunteers. Findings show that US&R task forces evaluate the volunteers in terms of their presumed legitimacy, utility, and potential liability or danger posed during the disaster response. Other responses to volunteers such as a feeling of powerlessness or the use of volunteers in non-technical ways are also explored. This paper demonstrates some key aspects of the relationship between volunteers and formal response organisations in disasters.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0361-3666",
doi="10.1111/j.1467-7717.2007.01021.x",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2007.01021.x"
}