Please Contact Us If You Are Interested In Helping
WTSAR is a nonprofit organization that is affiliated with FEMA as a preparedness and emergency response group. Our main mission is to assist our community in the preperation for any kind of economic or environmental disaster in the way of education, preparation and mitigation. The FEMA approach to disaster response is in three parts - Preparation, Mitigation and Response.
Preparation
Preparation begins with identifying the various kinds of events that can have a devistating effect on individuals and/or communities. Natural disasters like earthquakes and tornadoes are only part of the possible scenarios that can adversly affect our population. There are also power outages, economic collapse, and terrorist activities. So, the question is: what can we do to minimize the effects of these tramaic occances? It is the main focus of our organization to convey the information you need to do this with the help of FEMA
Mitigation
Mitigation involves doing what is necessary to minimize or eleminate the threat of a disaster. In Pecos for instance we have been experiencing a flooding of the Pecos River every 10 years or so. This is primarily being caused by a Salt Cedar problem along the banks of the rivver. The Salt Cedars break off or dead trees and limbs get washed down the river in times of high water clogging channels and bridges and backing up the water for miles. The river bed also rises south of Bastow which contributes the flooding as well. This could be easily remidied by the Army Corps of Engineers but they have not responded to any requests to do this work.
Response
Response to the aftermath of a disaster involves the training of community citizens on how to help their neighbors in distress in the times both immediately after the impact and in continued operations for cleanup and assessment. This training under FEMA involves the creation of a CERT (Citizens Emergency Response Team) which requires the necessary training and skills to be able to assest the professional First Responsders in these situations - especially where FEMA is called up on to support this effort.
Reference Link Information
Ready.gov is the public information site for FEMA preparation.
FEMA Alerts gives you weather alerts, disaster hotline,and prep tips.