Mass care services provide life-sustaining and human services to disaster-affected populations, including feeding operations, emergency first aid, distribution of emergency items, and family reunification. Additional resources and services may need to be mobilized to support individuals with disabilities, limited mobility, limited English proficiency, children, household pets, and service and assistance animals. During mass evacuations, mass care services may also support the displaced population via sheltering. Human services include disaster assistance programs that help disaster survivors recover/replace lost personal property, obtain disaster loans, food stamps, crisis counseling, disaster unemployment, disaster legal services, etc. Timely and adequate provision of mass care and human services to the affected population is a critical first step toward attaining incident recovery outcomes.
Objective for Emergency Mass Care: Provide for basic survival needs including food, water, emergency supplies, and a safe, sanitary, and secure environment.
The basic needs satisfied via mass care and human services vary little by disaster type, whether a chemical incident or a broader-based natural disaster, and whether accidental or intentional in nature. However, for a chemical incident, the level and extent of contamination may constrain the provision of mass care and emergency assistance needed by survivors. Hazardous materials expertise and sampling/monitoring data may be needed to identify areas where mass care services in the immediate incident area can be safely located; services to address many of the needs of survivors generally will only be available outside the contaminated area.31 For example, if a chemical incident results in contamination of the local water supply, mass feeding sites should be located in areas where the water supply is not contaminated whenever practicable; otherwise, mass feeding sites must have procedures in place to obtain potable water, decontaminate tap water, or otherwise ensure that the water on-site is safe for its intended use (drinking, food preparation, cleaning, etc.). Chemical incidents also carry the potential need for mass human (and animal) decontamination. Finally, delays in recovery activities or the need for extended timelines to achieve recovery outcomes due to contamination concerns may be experienced following chemical incidents.
Planners should be aware that some affected populations, such as individuals at lower socio-economic levels, non-documented residents, the homeless, and persons with disabilities or limited mobility, may experience disproportionate impacts from chemical incidents. These and other individuals may have limited financial reserves and their income may be disrupted in the aftermath of the incident and/or during response and ols/key-planning-factors-chemical-incident/kpf5/1recovery activities. In addition, responders themselves may be disproportionately harmed due to their close interaction with the event either medically, behaviorally, or socially, depending on the chemical released and the nature of the event.