In Times of Need: An Examination of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief Service Volunteers

Abstract

Significant concentrations of people in areas have led scholars to argue that humans will be inevitably affected by disasters. A primary component of preparation for and recovery from disasters is the volunteer. Building on prior studies, this research uses nationally representative data from the Current Population Survey to examine volunteering for emergency preparedness and disaster relief (EPR) service. The results indicate that, compared to those who perform more general volunteering tasks, volunteers for disaster relief tasks are likely to be younger and less educated. Additional analyses show that relief volunteers are more likely than general volunteers to be asked to volunteer directly by someone in an organization, underscoring the importance of network ties to recruitment for this type of volunteering.