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News

UH may become base for relief

Organization works for better communication in natural disasters

by MATT COOPER
Senior Staff Writer

Disaster Response Services, a student organization on campus, is looking to expand its operations and make UH its communication center.

DRS is currently just a transportation and training center for other non-profit organizations that provide humanitarian aid during natural disasters. The service works out of other colleges along the Gulf Coast and has been a UH student organization since 2003.

"During Hurricane Katrina there was no communication whatsoever," Jonathan Stokely, a former UH student, said. "You couldn't call New Orleans or anywhere in the area because of the satellite relay stations that were damaged from the hurricane."

Stokely plans to work with UH to build mobile satellite relay stations that could help maintain communication in a disaster area. 

He said DRS is different from other aid organizations such as the Red Cross because they're not as focused on evacuation. DRS will be geared more toward rapid-response distribution of aid. 

"What we want to do is treat people where they are with medical (assistance), enough food and water," Stokely said. "We go in within 72 hours and no longer than 10 days."

Stokely said the lack of communication throughout Houston during Hurricane Rita is a good example of what DRS could have prevented.

"People don't know about us. It's almost an on-going recruiting process," Stokely said.

Stokely is looking for students willing to volunteer in a disaster setting. He claims that some human resources are not used well in other organizations such as the Red Cross.

"We had athletic people down in Galveston folding napkins and things for the Red Cross, and that's not the highest and best use of their time," Stokely said. "For example, the football team could really move some water and food and load trucks and the things that are really needed (to make the) best use of their talents."

Stokely said several schools are involved and each school has their own niche in DRS. He also said UH would work well as a communication base. KUHF, a public radio station based at UH, is a resource Stokely thinks was neglected during Hurricane Rita.

"They were playing reruns," Stokely said. "There was no reporting on catastrophic disasters whatsoever during these disasters." 

DRS was incorporated in 1997 and is based on volunteer support.

For more information visit the DRS Web site at www.uh.edu/drs or www.drscorp.org.

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