EVAG our Emergency Volunteer Action Group

Most of us who live in Somerset and surrounding areas will remember the flooding of 2010 when many homes were flooded on the Somerset Levels.

Donations of essential items were made from organisations all over the country and arrived in Somerset. A warehouse needed to be set up and managed to contain and distribute these donations to those in need. All sorts of local groups, including Rotary and Inner Wheel members, stepped up to help as needed.

This may seem a long time ago but from that event, EVAG (Emergency Volunteer Action Group) was born. Many of the original volunteers are still part of this team which has grown and is now one of a number of volunteer action groups which are called upon by the County Council when support is need to help.

The role of EVAG has evolved since those early days. The EVAG team is trained for callouts to assist with manning evacuation centres and spontaneous volunteer reception centres. We train alongside first responders so that we can work as a team when called upon by the civil authorities.

Our team was called out three times in 2023, put on standby twice and attended live exercises. We were called when the snows hit us, and when floods threatened households to the extent that evacuation was required.

When we are called, EVAG members report to the Police rendezvous point initially to assess needs before we call Rotary and Inner Wheel clubs for assistance. On every call, Rotary members have come forth with assistance, so we have a record with the civil authorities for reliability.

EVAG has an additional role within Rotary and Inner Wheel. When a District–wide labour force is required, call us!

We organised clubs working out when the medical supplies for Ukraine were to be packed and documented for transit.
We organised a labour force to pack Christmas toys for the Ukrainian children of families hosted by Rotary members.
We provide flood resilience packs consisting of hessian and plastic bags which inflate when in contact with water. These are invaluable for threatened households as they are compact and easily stored until they inflate when floods threaten. We have issued these to over 50 households in need.
We join and advise flood warden groups and gain huge satisfaction from leaving families more relaxed as the flood warnings increase.