When you open the news and it's devastation...

What's our first reaction when we see footage of a natural disaster unravelling on the news? For me it's a feeling of fear and empathy, hoping the human toll will not grow further. Then, contacting family and friends who might be near the affected area to check-in with them and make sure they're okay.

But what happens after you've reached out to all of your family and friends and (hopefully) everyone has come back to tell you they're safe? Then my thoughts move to the people who are affected by the disaster, whom I don't yet know.

For some context, I lost my father to a flood when I was a teenager. In years since I've experienced disastrous floods as an adult living in Brisbane in 2011. I lost a family member to one flood and almost all of my worldly possessions in another flood. I think this is what drives me so much to want to help by volunteering wherever my able body can be of assistance. I've felt some of the pain of what circumstances like this can cause.

Where I can help those affected by natural disasters, (which from experience I know largely consists of extensive and messy clean-up), I want to help. And I know there are so many like-minded individuals out there who have been looking for an easier way to volunteer with the recent flooding in Western parts of Germany. I know because while searching for how I could volunteer I came across countless other website and reddit posts, from people just like me, wanting to help, but not knowing where to start.

...So why not just volunteer through the big organisations?

Well I, like many others, did do just this! My first avenue was Red Cross and I made contact with the Red Cross here in Germany. I explained how I had experience in flood recovery relief efforts in the past and I would like to help with the floods in the West of Germany. The Red Cross is great and I support them for the fantastic work that they do. Unfortunately, I think these organizations are under such strain when a large natural disaster like this happens, that managing existing resources is hard enough, without considering taking on more volunteers. Nevertheless I had a conversation and sent an email and am waiting to hear back.

In the meantime, I watch the news and am extremely frustrated that I know I can help, but I don't know where to best direct my efforts.

An idea is born!

Without going into intricate details, I have started to plan development for a web-based application which will make the deployment of resources for disaster relief and post-disaster clean-up easier in the future for those wanting to volunteer, and for organisations trying to coordinate resources and most importantly for those in need of assistance!

This website is just a stop-gap while the application is in development and a means of staying in touch in the meantime.

If you're interested in people management / asset / resource deployment and the coordination of efforts to help our fellow humans in need, then please watch this space.

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm based in Leipzig, Germany and open to networking with other good humans in philanthropy and business matters.

Aaron Robinson