CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Krishna Search & Rescue

Having just mentioned how Krishna Disaster Relief is so interesting, I have been wanting to mention a couple of other aspects that we could easily pursue along with providing water (and later hot prasadam). And this involves search and rescue.

Not only does this activity make sense with the general idea of showing the world Lord Krishna coming to the rescue, it is also a highly attractive service—because it involves the most daring aspects of disaster relief.

I don’t believe that anyone would argue about the need for attracting new members into our society. Especially the youth. Without the active participation of the young, a religion can wither away.

So the point that I am making is that Krishna Search & Rescue would be a tremendous service to capture the minds of the world’s youth. This is an avenue of service that should not be neglected.

Giving this some thought, here are some of the ideas that I’ve come up with:

A) If there are some devotees who are inclined to work with animals, then I would encourage them to follow in the footsteps of Caroline Hebard. This needs to be researched but apparently she has formed a search and rescue organization—that Krishna Disaster Relief would want to affiliate itself with.

B) The only word of caution that I have here is to work within the established system. At all times we want to respect the other "actors" who have rightly earned for themselves the roles that they "play" during disasters. Contacting these people and working with them is the best way to go.

C) I have called this Krishna Search & Rescue, and it is OK to think of it like this—and call it that—but we don’t want a bunch of splinter organizations. This, along with a couple of other groups that could specialize within Krishna Disaster Relief, should all be considered part of Krishna Disaster Relief.

D) The U.S. government has now perfected an electronic radar device that can detect the presence of someone who is alive, but behind objects (see appendix). It is not expensive. Of course, this device has a number of possible applications. Yes, people who are trapped under fallen debris can also be detected. If all of this were to research out favorably, I would think that this would be better than working with dogs. But that can be there, too.

E) During earthquakes, tornadoes, and violent storms, Krishna Search & Rescue could be the cutting edge of our disaster relief response. This could develop into a really exciting service. Besides the possibility of locating people trapped under debris, devotees could provide all kinds of search and rescue options. During flooding, devotees could rescue people by boat. So here is another area of expertise that we could get involved in. Krishna Search & Rescue would be a diverse group of devotees with their own special equipment and training. They would need to be trained in emergency medicine and emergency communications. This will be mentioned in the next two chapters.

F) During a disaster, Krishna Search & Rescue (which is Krishna Disaster Relief) would also be acting as scouts for Krishna Disaster Relief’s other members, which would most likely be hours behind them. This advance team would relay back information on road conditions, other areas of concern, and even where to best go to pass out the water and/or prasadam that we would be bringing.