Volcano relief effort gains help from Bay Area Salvation Army
The eruption of Mount Kilauea has sent rivers of lava into the Pacific Ocean and ash plumes 30,000 feet into the air over the island of Hawaii. Earthquakes have rocked the summit, and more than a month after the volcano first erupted about 2,500 people have been evacuated from their homes. Meanwhile, the eruptions continue.
John McKnight can’t wait to get there.
McKnight, the director of Emergency Disaster Services for the Salvation Army’s Golden Gate Division, will fly to Mount Kilauea on Wednesday. For three weeks, he’ll be helping the disaster relief efforts for those affected by the volcano, which has been spewing lava since May 3. It has now destroyed hundreds of homes, and lava has covered a total of 8 square miles.
“I felt in my heart that it’s where I was needed most,” McNight said. “It’s tough to pull away, you know. We’re at the start of fire season, and there’s a lot could happen here. But my heart goes out to the people there.
“The great challenge in this disaster is that because it’s slow moving, it’s going to go on for months,” he added. “The disaster effort will need to keep going, and that takes a lot of resources.”
McKnight is a veteran of natural disaster relief, including working on the ground for
the American Red Cross on the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 and the Oakland hills firestorm in 1991. He’s worked at the Salvation Army for more than five years and is responsible for training, preparations and deployment of the division’s response to manmade and natural disasters.
“Some of the most memorable things I’ve worked on include large wildfires,” McKnight said, citing the Lake County fires and the North Bay wildfire responses, which involved a massive coordination of manpower and resources. “But this (eruption) is a very unique incident because it’s so slow-moving.”
McKnight isn’t the only Bay Area-based disaster response worker involved in the Kilauea relief effort. Ten employees from the Red Cross Bay Area are currently there, agency spokeswoman Cynthia Shaw said. The organization has already deployed two rounds of people to the disaster.
“We have more than 360 workers from across the West Coast in addition to those who were already in Hawaii,” Shaw said, noting that the Red Cross has coordinated 5,000 overnight stays in shelters, working in coordination with the Salvation Army to serve meals. Other relief workers are providing mental health services, she added.
McKnight emphasized the importance of providing assistance but ultimately leaving the relief effort in local hands.
“We’re there to assist them, not run the operation,” he said. “After we leave, they can continue on because it’s their face everyone has to know.”