Paraguay RPCV Oliver Dick says Federal Emergency Management Agency more focused on following protocol than in helping victims of Hurricane Katrina



"I talked with between 1,500 and 2,000 people and FEMA never asked me what the situation was, what their problems were," said Dick. "They followed a strict format of communications, and it wasn't their focus to find out what was happening at the center."

Paraguay RPCV Oliver Dick says Federal Emergency Management Agency more focused on following protocol than in helping victims of Hurricane Katrina

Critical work

By Claudia Torrens / Daily News Staff

Friday, November 4, 2005

FRAMINGHAM -- A local volunteer who was deployed with the Peace Corps to Louisiana said officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were more focused on following protocol than in helping victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Oliver Dick, 33, came back to Framingham two weeks ago from the small town of Plaquemine, near Baton Rouge, where he helped survivors.

The effort is the first time in the Peace Corps' 44-year history volunteers have been sent to work domestically.

Dick, among the first sent to Louisiana, stayed for a month.

"I talked with between 1,500 and 2,000 people and FEMA never asked me what the situation was, what their problems were," said Dick. "They followed a strict format of communications, and it wasn't their focus to find out what was happening at the center."

Dick said FEMA was unable to identify the services that people required and volunteers had to come up with their own ideas if they really wanted to help. The Framingham resident said he was sent there with the Crisis Corps division of the Peace Corps, and many of his fellow volunteers were frustrated by what they believe were rigid FEMA rules.

"Many volunteers waiting for assignments worked themselves into useful positions, something FEMA never intended to do," said Dick.

Butch Kinerney, spokesman for FEMA in Washington, said yesterday that FEMA must comply with federal rules that make volunteers follow a "very comprehensive" script. The script has information on issues like federal disaster assistance for rebuilding of homes, insurances or loans for small businesses.

"We don't want to confuse applicants," said Kinerney. "With the scripts, we know applicants are getting the same information from volunteers wherever they are. We are required by federal law to follow that standard."

Kinerney said that if volunteers don't give out the information on the script, disaster victims would end up with different kinds of information and, eventually, don't know where to go for help.

"We are sorry to hear that this volunteer (Dick) was not happy with the experience," said Kinerney.

Dick first arrived in Orlando, Fla., on Sept. 8, where he completed some training with the computer program of FEMA. He then traveled to Baton Rouge, where he slept in a tent camp specially set up for FEMA and Peace Corps volunteers.

As an example of what he said was "FEMA's way of doing things," Dick said one occasion, a survivor asked about the Blue Roof project, an initiative to temporarily cover leaking roofs with a tarp to avoid further damage. A volunteer asked her manager about it, and the question, after going through different managers, was responded by a "there is no Blue Roof project in Louisiana."

The frustrated victim showed Dick and the volunteer a Web site indicating there was a Blue Roof project in Louisiana. Dick and the volunteer called the Army Corps of Engineers.

"Not only there was a Blue Roof project, but they were willing to assign a representative to our DCR (Disaster Recovery Center," said Dick.

Dick said last week that an average of 200 people would show up at the center every day not even knowing what they were looking for. Dick and other volunteers would help direct them to the shelters or agencies they needed and solve problems of financial assistance.

"Some people had lost everything. Some had left their homes in a boat, other did not know where their son was. It was hard to deal with," he said.

This was not the first time Dick has volunteered with the Peace Corps.

The local resident worked in Paraguay from 1995 to 1997 as a small enterprise volunteer, where he helped build housing and cooperatives. He holds a master's degree from the University of North Texas and has lived in Framingham for more than a year, he said.

Besides the organization problems he said he witnessed in Louisiana, Dick said he would go back again.

"It was worth going there," he said. "If it wasn't for us, a lot of stuff would have not happened."

When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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Peace Corps at highest Census in 30 years Congratulations to the Peace Corps for the highest number of volunteers in 30 years with 7,810 volunteers serving in 71 posts across the globe. Of course, the President's proposal to double the Peace Corps to 15,000 volunteers made in his State of the Union Address in 2002 is now a long forgotten dream. With deficits in federal spending stretching far off into the future, any substantive increase in the number of volunteers will have to wait for new approaches to funding and for a new administration. Choose your candidate and start working for him or her now.

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