Community Resilience Hubs Information Booklet

What are they?

In a disaster/emergency widespread damage to utilities, buildings, trees, and roads is likely to cause issues across the area. Our emergency services will be dealing with the most urgent incidents, so your local community will be the most immediate source of support and help.

A Community Resilience Hub is your community’s place to go and help one another in an emergency. They are organised around whatever your community wants them to be, but primarily they are designed so that community members can help themselves, but also have a link into the emergency services and other responding agencies in your local area.

What’s the Purpose?

In an emergency the responding agencies will be heavily stretched, where they must prioritise urgent calls. Many of the minor issues can be resolved by the community themselves, often with just a little organisation or information required. The Community Resilience Hub is designed to build on and enhance what is already in place in the community. It is not designed, nor does it intend to remove, any levels of responsibility that already exist that support our society.

The fundamental purpose of the Community Resilience Hubs is that the community can come together to help one another, but also enables the emergency responders and community groups to feed information to one another. For example:

• Police Community Support Officer’s (PCSOs) can visit the site with important updates and can then take back any urgent issues and feed them up the chain.
• Warmth and welfare can be provided within the hub to anyone that needs it.
• Food and water can be dropped off at the site for residents/ community in need.
• Activities to help in the incident can be coordinated at the hub.
• Community can come together with people in a similar position to themselves.

How is the Hub run?

In general, the hub is run by the community for the community. It uses the community venues themselves and is predominantly staffed by community volunteers. It’s essentially a place for the community to come and help each other. Each hub will have an emergency pack which will give some suggestions on roles to help the hub operate effectively e.g., supervisor and welfare, these do not need to be adhered to and can be altered to whatever suits the group or situation. There is also no requirement to predefine people to the roles, the system works so that you can assemble and get started from there.

Multi-agency links

Inevitably, a response that requires the opening of the Community Resilience Hub is likely to involve the emergency services in some capacity. However, it is key to understand that the hubs are community owned, and community run.

A localised incident will involve emergency services or the local authority. Where the hub has been activated by the community, it is likely that the emergency services or local authority will visit to liaise with the local community and provide advice, reassurance and to determine whether any assistance is required. The local agencies will appreciate the hub being set up, as it supports the wider response and gives them a base to relay any information back into the community. It will also provide these emergency
responders with essential local knowledge and expertise.

The type of incident will determine what type of responder attendance you might receive. For example:

• Large Scale Fires – Fire and Rescue Service and Local Authority.
• Flooding – Environment Agency, Fire and Rescue Service and Local Authority.
• Power Outage – Local Authority, Police and National Grid Electricity Distribution.

What will you find at a Hub?

Amenities

To make Community Resilience Hubs as flexible as possible, there is no predefined
list of criteria. However, we would expect that all hubs to have at least:

• An enclosed structure (building)
• Running water (with a sink to wash up in and fill water bottles)
• Toilets
• Chairs/Tables
• An ability to provide heating

Some of the hubs might have extra amenities including:

• Kitchen
• Showers
• Display equipment
• Books/Games
• Power generators

Staffing

The hubs will be primarily staffed by the community themselves, and therefore the structure and make-up of the staffing will be designed on what works best in your area. However, there are some pre-defined roles that we suggest each Community Resilience Hub uses; these include a Supervisor, Welfare Officer
and a Needs and Offer Officer.

Ideally these roles should come with lanyards to help easily identify the staff.

The Community Resilience Hub will only work with your community working as a team. The hub is a community asset and will be run, designed and owned by the community.

You can design your team in any way that works for you, however, to aid this process we have given you some pre-defined roles that you might wish to adopt. You will need to decide which roles work best for your group and then allocate them to individuals.

The way this works best is that the people in the roles are decided on the day depending on who turns up rather than person one being the Supervisor and person two the Welfare Officer in an overarching plan. The problem with pre-defining people into roles is that those community members may not be available at the time of the incident.

Everyone has their own skills and abilities and can make a valuable contribution to the group. It is important to recognise these so that people are allocated the correct roles and can play their part.

Roles

The main roles at the Community Resilience Hub are:

• Supervisor
• Information Officer
• Public Information
• Receptionist
• Welfare
• Needs and Offers
• Facility Maintenance

Supervisor Role

Key responsibilities include:

• Coordinate the response in the hub
• Run/hold regular meetings with all volunteers
• Keep an action and decision log
• Ensure welfare of all volunteers
• Deal with media enquiries where possible

Having someone appointed as the Supervisor is vital as it enables coordination and allows the hub to look at the bigger picture in response and recovery. It also ensures that everyone in the hub is following the same systems and approach and reduces duplication. The role of the Supervisor is not to make all the decisions, but to help the community come together to decide the best course of action. All decisions should be discussed as a group with the Supervisor only deciding on a course of action if the group cannot decide the best way forward. It is emphasised that the Supervisor is role specific and not person specific. Therefore, the individual taking on this role can change at any time.

The Roles & Tasks of the supervisor include:

Oversight: Make sure that all roles are allocated to volunteers that best suit their preferences and skill sets. Everyone can make a valuable contribution and it is vital to ensure that no-one feels isolated.

Resources: All volunteers will need to have all the correct equipment to undertake their role. This covers equipment from tables to pens and paper alongside additional staffing (if more staffing is required it’s the Supervisors role to help locate any more willing volunteers).

Meetings: Regular meetings will need to be held so that the volunteers are aware of the current situation and future requirements of the hub/incident.

Keep a record: Make sure a record of decision and actions are kept – this is just so you can look back at what you did. We will not ask for these records however, it’s useful to have them in case we ask any questions of what happened. Your experience of an incident will be unique and your contribution to the subsequent learning will be invaluable to help improve the response next time.

Welfare: It’s important that all volunteers are kept well fed and hydrated alongside given regular breaks. Volunteers in a crisis tend to be keen to work hard for extended hours and forget to take breaks and eat/drink. The Supervisor will need to ensure welfare is a key part of the hub.

Register: It’s important to keep a register of who is working and when. Again, this helps for record keeping and understanding when people need breaks. It is not required to keep a register of community members who use/visit the hub.

Closing and opening the hub: When the hub is closed for the night, the Supervisor must ensure it is locked and then reopened the following day (if required). Signage may need to be put up highlighting the hubs opening hours. Should you be liaising with any multi-agency organisations it will be important to notify them of the opening hours.

Shutting down the hub: When the community feel the hub is no longer needed, the Supervisor must ensure the hub is shut down and packed away. Should you be liaising with any multi-agency organisations it will be important to notify them that you are also closing.

Work with any media: Media are an important part of any incident and will be managed by the statutory responding agencies. However, there may be specific media interest in your Emergency Contact Hub. The Supervisor’s responsibility is to work with them should any arrive. It is up to the group what you allow the media to see of the hub.

Please remember that you are not to share:

• Any personal information or details about your community (Individuals
  may choose to share their personal information with the media)
• Address or contact information of the community
• Details of deaths or injuries
• Details on people’s homes

Legal Information:

In general, you do not have any special legal powers when working as part of the hub. Legal regulation or law does not prohibit community proactiveness. However, it’s important that as a community group you operate within the law and work to promote health and safety within the hub.

Information Officer Role

Key responsibilities include:

• Collection of key information
• Information displayed in effective manner
• Ensure Situation Board is kept up to date and relevant
• Ensure an understanding and collation of required information
• Manage any extra volunteers who will help with information collation/collection

The Information Officer is vitally important in the hub structure. The aim of this role is to coordinate all information for the hub. This includes all information coming in from the community alongside the information that may come in from the local responding agencies.

They will need to ensure not only that all information is collected but that all relevant matters are displayed to the community. It is up to the volunteer group how this is done, but a common method will be to use display boards in/outside the hub. It may also be relevant to post certain information on community boards, or social media sites if appropriate.

If requests for information are made from responding agencies it is the role of the Information Officer to relay these.

Situation Board

A situation board is vitally important, it can be an easel, a white board, or even some paper stuck to the door. Each hub should have large paper pads and pens to use in an incident.

We strongly encourage all communities to use large-scale maps of their area. These can be used proactively to stick dots and points of specific interest on. These should be conspicuously displayed to the community.

Information on the boards should include:

• Up to date incident info, e.g., electricity still off and likely to remain so for next 24 hours
• Known areas of concern e.g., locations flooded
• State of utilities e.g., drinking water is still usable but may have low pressure.
• Weather reports
• Anything you don’t know e.g., we are currently awaiting information on the timeline for flood water pumps

Suggested information board layout:

• Date and Time
• Location
• Summary of what’s happening e.g., flooding in__ due to high rainfall on __
• Weather/Utility updates
• Our response – what are we doing now e.g., flood wardens out checking drains, tea and coffee available etc
• Upcoming tasks to be completed e.g., flood signs to be put up on roads entering town
• Any other relevant information

What information might you want to know?

Think about the information that you’d find most useful:

• Brainstorm with the group what it is you want to know. Then consider how you might find this out
• Consider if there’s areas of the community you haven’t heard from and how do you contact them?
• Consider what information the multi-agency responders might have that you require and identify how you might get this (remember they may be very busy and unable to pass you the required information quickly)

How to collect information: You might need some help collecting information so consider asking another volunteer to assist you.

Collect information when people arrive: You might need some help with this one. Ask people arriving at the hub:

• Where they came from, what the situation is like where they are
• What they saw on the way to the hub
• Do they know of anyone that needs help

What should you report back to multi-agency organisations if asked: (Community resilience Hub Situation Report): The best way of presenting information to responders is via the same system they use shown below, which is known as a METHANE report. It can help you organise your own information.

Public Information Role

Key responsibilities include:

• Required to assist the Information Officer if needed
• Keeping the information board up to date
• Put up any posters (if required)
• Assist others with media enquiries

Sometimes the Information Officer might require some extra help and therefore this role has been
created. However, in a small-scale incident it likely the Information Officer may be able to complete
many areas of this work.

The key part of this role is ensuring the information board is kept up to date (as described under the Information Officer tab).

Putting Up Posters: Putting any posters in the hub.

Collect Information: Help collect information from arrivals or go out into community to help obtain any missing information.

Situation Board: Writing information on the main board and keeping it updated.

Media: Media are an important part of any incident and will be managed by the statutory responding agencies. However, there may be specific media interest in your Community Resilience Hub. If this
is the case, your role will be to help the Supervisor and Information Officer.

You can share:

• Anything they can see (flood has impacted _ Centre is open and has___ people in it)
• General Information (how busy you are and what the volunteers have done)
• Information you’ve received from responders

However, please remember that you are not to share:

• Any personal information or details about your community. However, individuals may choose to share their own personal information.
• Address or contact information of the community.
• Details of deaths or injuries.
• Details on people’s homes.

Consent will also need to be given from any community members or volunteers
who have their photo or video taken.

Receptionist Role

Key responsibilities include:

• Welcome visitors to the hub
• Provide reassurance to any visitors
• Direct visitors to the correct place
• Keep hub/reception tidy

Anyone coming to the hub should be welcomed and provided with information on what the hub is
for and what it can/can’t provide. The reception needs to be located near the front of the hub and be easily identifiable.

Greeting: Make sure that everyone is greeted and is directed to the location they require.

Remain Calm: Ensure that you remain calm to all queries and questions. Ensure that you are honest; if you do not know the answer to any questions, do say so.

Provide Reassurance: Provide reassurance to any community members who require it.

Keep Hub Tidy: Ensure the hub remains clean and tidy.

Media: If any media arrive, refer them to the Supervisor.

Facilities Maintenance Role

Key responsibilities include:

• Keeping facility clean and tidy
• Making sure all toilets and washing points are fully stocked
• Assist with any tidying required
• Ensure the building is opened and locked as required

Keeping the facility clean and tidy might not seem overly important, but you’d be surprised how important
this actually is. Keeping it clean and tidy will also ensure that it is safe for the public and that people feel comfortable in the building.

Cleaning and Tidying: Keeping the building clean and tidy, cleaning up any debris and rubbish making sure that people don’t slip or trip on anything.

Walkways and Paths: Keeping footpaths clean and clear around the building. This could be just making sure they aren’t obstructed or might involve clearing some ice and snow around the main entrance.

Toilets and Washing Points: Make sure the toilets are kept clean and tidy and make sure hand washing stations are kept well stocked.

Needs and Offers Role

Key responsibilities include:

• Collect and display (if required) any community needs
• Collect and display (if required) any community offers of help
• Report any urgent and serious ‘needs’ to the Supervisor
• Ensure a record is kept of needs and offers (with times and dates)

As with any incident, the community will require different help in different situations, at the same time,
there will be plenty of people willing to help out in any way they can.

There is a necessity for somebody to organise these different needs and requirements. One way to do this is to split them into two different ‘boards’; Needs and Offers. Therefore, one person might come and offer some assistance with clearing debris from a storm and another community member may come
in asking for help to clear the footpath to their home.

It’s imperative that someone manages this situation and matches key needs to offers. There will be many ‘needs’ that we do not have ‘offers’ of assistance for. This will then lead to matching responses to available resources or by escalating to emergency responders.

Life Threatening Needs

• Contact the emergency services immediately!
• Make sure the hub Supervisor is made aware
• Pass information to any multi-agency responders on the scene

Needs and Offers Boards

Consider the use of needs and offer boards (these are large boards that the public can see that identify needs and offers). However, these do not need to be conspicuously displayed.

Ensure that you record the time and dates of needs and offers, along with the people’s contact details (not to be put on the display boards). If anyone is only available at certain times, it’s also important to record this detail.

Match Offers and Needs

Match the offers and the needs of the community – try to group both to ease the process. Also, to encourage those offering help to have a broader remit. For example, it’s better to have a general offer of help to clear debris, rather than a specific offer of help to clear branches on a footpath.

Keeping the boards up to date is vital to ensure accuracy and to avoid
double counting.

Welfare Role

Key responsibilities include:

• Help provide community with comfort
• Pass on any concerns to Supervisor
• Ensure refreshments are available for the community
• Provide a warm/cool environment for the community

People will use the hubs for many different things including help with specific tasks. However, one
regularly neglected area of assistance can be general welfare. People often just need someone to talk to
and comfort them. Therefore, it should be given high prominence.

Be visible: Being visible and approachable is important as people need to known where to easily find you and feel comfortable in your presence.

Provide Comfort: Providing comfort is as simple as just having a conversation with a person helping them to air any of their issues. This involves listening to people and providing them with any information about the situation and helping them with their practical needs. It is important that you understand you are not a counselling service and that you do not try to delve deep into anyone’s personal issues.

When providing comfort, it’s important to:

• Help people feel in control by making their own decisions
• Listen respectfully to them
• Encourage them to think about where any extra support can come from (family and friends)
• Take note of what they need
• Remain supportive and do not take anything they say personally

When providing comfort, avoid:

• Ordering people around/ telling them what to do
• Tell them it will all be fine when it might not
• Being distracted; give your full attention to them
• Separating them from their friends and family
• React to their emotions personally

Refreshments: Make refreshments readily available and accessible. However, avoid being committed to serving tea and coffee for the whole time as this will be a distraction to your role.