Responding to a World in Need
From designing houses for tsunami and hurricane victims, to raising funds for earthquake and hurricane relief efforts, EMI is committed to responding to disasters using our technical expertise, network of relationships, and passion for serving the poor.
Over the past few years, we have seen many natural and political disasters strike around the world. Living day-to-day and hand-to-mouth, the poorest of the poor have been hit the hardest. As EMI has responded to these disasters through our network of client ministries, we have seen unprecedented opportunities to meet the needs of the poor and to share the love of Christ, at times in places previously untouched by the Gospel. Out of our rich history of responding to those in need has grown a vision to formalize EMI’s disaster response program.
The Vision
EMI’s vision for disaster response is to anticipate, assess, and respond to unmet needs of the poor within days of any disaster worldwide with fully equipped EMI response teams trained in disaster assessment and technical consulting.
Seeking Volunteers…
We are now searching for volunteers interested in disaster response.
We especially seek engineers trained in water, wastewater, structural analysis, transportation, shoring, geotechnical analysis, or construction management. We seek physically fit, spiritually mature volunteers possessing helpful technical skills, flexibility, and a servant heart for responding to disasters.
Volunteers will form the heart of our rapid response design/build teams, which are intended to strategically focus on assessing damaged infrastructure and restoring essential services during the critical days and weeks following a disaster. We intend to provide design/build services in coordination with client ministries managing disaster work on the site who request our services.
As design professionals, you have the skills to lift up the poor into a world of hope. Do you seek to be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings (Isaiah 58:12)?
If you are interested in joining our database of disaster responders or are simply interested in learning more about the program, please download a volunteer responder application or contact our disaster response coordinator, Scott Powell.
We encourage all potential disaster response volunteers to first volunteer on one of EMI's short term project trips (see current project needs). This is so we can get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses before attempting to work together and rely on each other in potentially high-stress environments.
EMI volunteers survey a village in Indonesia after the December 2004 tsunami
