CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
More About Responding To Disasters In America

Writing this book has definitely led me to address many areas of interest that I had either inadvertently glossed over or simple not considered. The subject matter here is really immense. Being a rather down-to-earth kind of person, I try to look at all the bases to be sure they are covered. Additionally, for Krishna Disaster Relief to work, it needs to be practical. Nobody likes a plan that is too far fetched.

Part of this plan was explained in the chapter, "Show Me The Money." Here the idea of having Krishna Disaster Relief’s name and 1-800 number included in every "How To Help" box, alongside the other relief agencies—was mentioned. I have also said that here in America, we should begin our response to disasters with drinking water. Incidentally, in other countries, too, devotees may wish to begin this way.

If this plan is adopted by ISKCON, then it needs to be pursued vigorously. People love heroes. By showing Lord Krishna coming to the rescue, in time the entire world will stand up and give Him a tremendous applause. I think Shrila Prabhupada will be very pleased.

Putting my thoughts down on paper has also made me realize that I am somewhat handicapped due to a lack of dialog with other devotees about the specifics of what I am proposing. Everything that I am saying needs to be placed on the table. An open discussion about them would then clarify the many issues I have tried to bring up.

Although I am lacking this forum, still I have more ideas about Krishna Disaster Relief.

I’m still concerned about our disaster relief efforts in America. Please allow me to just say what comes to mind.

I have already said that I would like to see Krishna Disaster Relief headquartered at the Potomac temple. Eventually a proper building could be built on the property for Krishna Disaster Relief to use. It could be designed very nicely to give it the mood of a disaster relief facility. A place for several vehicles to be parked inside, storage, classrooms, offices, etc. Like a modern fire station.

During an emergency, it would be from the Potomac temple that a specific Krishna Disaster Relief team would depart. Of course, it would also be here that Krishna Disaster Relief would have its offices—doing and managing all the things that I have been suggesting. From here, Krishna Disaster Relief could hold its own annual meetings where devotees from all over the world could attend.

This facility would also give us the opportunity to host meetings where disaster relief people from other organizations could meet, such as the Maryland and Virginia state VOAD teams.

But as I said, it would be from here that a Krishna Disaster Relief team would leave to respond to actual disasters. However, to cover the United States properly, at least three other staging areas need to be established. One in the Southern part of the United States (perhaps in Florida), one in the West (California), and one in Texas or Colorado. This should do it.

The need for mobility is rather obvious. Mobility means vehicles and in this regards I have a couple of thoughts. Having been to several major disasters, myself, I have given this subject considerable attention.

Using the Limon tornado as a good example, the most significant thing about a disaster is the complete devastation. Everything is broken and ruined. In stark contrast to this—giving the dazed victims their first real sense of stability—are the things brought onto the "stage" by the various "actors." Everything may be destroyed, but over there sits a new vehicle, brought to the scene by a disaster relief agency. It isn’t smashed. This vehicle—and others like it belonging to the various disaster relief agencies—are clean and strong and solid.

I guess I am just worried about how we will look to the public. I told you how devotees in our beat up maroon van in Denver looked more like a drug deal going down than the Hare Krishnas feeding the homeless. We definitely want to avoid showing up to a disaster in a vehicle that already looks like it has been in a disaster.

Instead, when Krishna Disaster Relief arrives, we should have only the best. Specifically, the kind of vehicles that Krishna Disaster Relief needs are as follows. And I also feel that everything we have should look the same. Not a mix but rather the same make, same style, same color, etc.

Perhaps Amberish prabhu could arrange for the Ford Motor Company to give Krishna Disaster Relief a grant of four vehicles for this humanitarian work. However this is arranged, what we need are four, one-ton pickup trucks. Four-wheel drive would be best. If I were going out today to place the order, I would ask for four F-350s, with extended cabs. This size and type of truck would be needed because of all the weight that it will be pulling. They should all be white in color.

Then I would buy an 8-foot cab-over camper for each unit—again—all the same make, color, etc. I would then have on the driver and passenger doors of the trucks, a nice Krishna Disaster Relief sign painted.

About signs—we want them but let’s not overdue it, either. Some thought needs to go into this. We want to avoid the appearance of "grandstanding." I did notice that on a side door of a Salvation Army canteen truck, there was a modest sign under plexiglass, about 18" by 24." Here they had presented a little information about themselves. It wasn’t displayed in an "in-your-face" way, but rather was off to the side and attached to the inside of a door that swung out once the canteen was set up for service.

I like the modest approach. Let our actions speak for us. Besides the signs on our truck doors and on our water trailers, perhaps a sign similar to the Salvation Army could be displayed nicely. A small pamphlet could be made available "for the taking" near the sign—for anyone interested.

These four trucks fitted with campers would give each disaster relief team the mobility and appearance that we would need. If maintained properly, they would give Krishna Disaster Relief many years of service. The director of Krishna Disaster Relief would be responsible for insuring that all of this equipment is taken care of properly. In each locale—wherever they are kept—they should be stored in a garage of some kind. A type of carport/garage can be purchased that would suffice.

Regarding the 8-foot cab-over campers, they are both compact and fully self-contained—meaning a bathroom, kitchen, beds, storage, etc. It is rather amazing how much they have been able to build into these condensed units. There are several manufacturers of these cab-over campers to choose from. While in California several years ago, I bought a new unit for $9,000.00. Other makes and models were cheaper/more expensive. Some thought needs to go into all of this as far as what is finally purchased. Buying four identical units at once will give us leverage to save money. But again, all four need to be the same in make and color, etc.

As far as the means to provide drinking water, each truck can pull a custom built trailer fitted with a water tank. This needs to be discussed. If not a water tank, perhaps a trailer that will hold those one gallon plastic bottles of water that you can buy in any market. There are pros and cons. If a tank is pulled, then near the disaster, the tank can be filled with drinking water. In other words, there is no point in pulling around a full tank of water over hundreds of miles.

I realize that there are more details here to work out, but this gives you some of the basic ideas that I have. One gallon water bottles are more convenient to pass out. I can just imagine how we could get an unlimited supply of these donated to us. And this is quality water that is free from contaminants. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of a custom-built trailer with compartments inside to stack these one gallon water bottles. This water should have a very long shelf life. But we need to determine this.

People like disaster relief agencies. The director of Krishna Disaster Relief could contact the owners of storage units—that we are all familiar with—such as "U-Store It." More than likely they would just donate a storage unit to us. We could have a network of these storage units strategically located across America, on major roadways. Devotees near each locale could then stock each storage unit with gallon bottles of water. Preferably the ones marked distilled water. A team of devotee carpenters could put together strong storage racks to hold the water. They could travel to each storage unit ahead of time and get it prepared. Then the temple could slowly fill it up with water bottles.

This supply of drinking water could then be picked-up by our actual disaster relief team on their way to a disaster and/or by our support truck and brought to the disaster site.

True, there are a lot of details to work out here but just imagine the logistics and difficulties and details involved in deploying a mobile kitchen. Providing just water is a much simpler task.