BayNews9 TV Tampa Bay
Sunday, December 10, 2006

When Hurricane Charley rolled through the bay area, Kai Dohm was one of the thousands who evacuated, taking off for Valdosta, Ga.
That experience got the St. Petersburg man thinking about people getting out well before disaster strikes, and six months ago, Dohm started a web site to connect people preparing to evacuate before a storm with people willing to provide a place to stay.
"(They can) form a relationship before the disaster strikes," Dohm said...
... The site allows users to set up a free account and sign up as a potential evacuee, a driver of evacuees or a host. Dohm says 90 percent of the people who have signed up are people willing to host evacuees.
"It's all about people helping people," he said.
... Evacuation hosts and evacuees will have the opportunity to do criminal background checks...

InteractiveDad.com
Wednesday, December 6, 2006

New, Free Web Site Helps Evacuees, Host Families Connect Before Disaster Strikes.

The web site helps families prepare for disaster by knowing where they'll to go, where they'll stay.

Kai Dohm had experience shoveling snow and navigating around black ice. After all, he lived in Chicago for 15 years.
But hurricanes? That's a different matter.
So when in 2004, while living in St. Petersburg, Fla., Hurricane Charley threatened his home and business, he did what authorities suggested: He left.
But with no family close, he had nowhere to go.
So he drove north to Valdosta, Georgia and found a motel. Shortly after checking in, he learned that Charley made a B-Line for Punta Gorda, and spared his home.
He was relieved.
But after shelling out money for gas and a motel rooms, he realized first-hand how expensive it can be to flee from a hurricane. And how disruptive, to say the least.
Wouldn't it be nice if everyone had a friend or family to stay with during a disaster?
If Kai Dohm, a computer programmer, has his way--they will.
He just started the web site EvacuationHelp.com to enable people to connect before disaster strikes. The web site helps them find host families, hotels and provides other tools for those living in at-risk areas.
“Over 1,300 US residents would not have lost their lives during Hurricane Katrina if they would have had the means to evacuate before the storm” says founder Kai Dohm. “Residents have to plan for the worst ahead of time in order to get out of harm’s way."
The web site EvacuationHelp.com can help families living in any city that face all types of disasters. It's free.

KeysNews.com / The Citizen
(Key West / Marathon / Islamorada / Key Largo Free Press)
Monday, January 29, 2007

Web site introduces evacuees to hosts
BY ROBERT SILK
Citizen Staff

As Hurricane Charley bore down on Florida's west coast in August 2004, Kai Dohm did what many in the Tampa Bay area did. He shuttered his house, packed a bag, grabbed the dog and evacuated north to Georgia.
He spent a night in a Valdosta hotel before returning to his St. Petersburg home, which had been spared by Charley's last moment wobble to the east.
In the days that followed, Dohm, 39, spent time organizing volunteers and relief efforts in Punta Gorda, which had borne the full brunt of Charley's destructive wrath. But the experience got him wondering.
Perhaps, he thought, something could be done to help more people move out of harm's way before a storm arrived. The images from Hurricane Katrina a year later only intensified Dohm's concern.
Early last month, with the launch of his Web site EvacuationHelp.com, Dohm turned those idle musings into action.
Dohm describes EvacuationHelp.com as a crossover between matchmaking and home exchange sites. But users won't be looking for a date or a nice vacation home. Instead, the site will help people meet evacuation partners across the state and throughout the country.
"This is really a system to form predisaster relationships," Dohm said.
Here's how it works: Just like on a dating site, users must create online profiles, which include information such as the city in which they live, how big their home is and how many are in their family.
If somebody is looking for a place to evacuate, that goes in the profile. If a family already has evacuation sites lined up but is willing to play host to other evacuees, that can be designated. Users can also make it known that they are willing to give rides or that they are in need of one.
There is even a field in which those offering lodging to an evacuee can designate how much storage space they have.
After creating a profile, users search for suitable evacuation partners by designating the distance they would like to travel and what type of community they are willing to stay in.
When a potential match is found, the approach begins — first through the protected user names.
Dohm says he has designed the site with security concerns very much in mind.
"Because of all the Internet predators, we don't give out too much information," he said.
The site even provides an easy link to Intelius, an EvacuationHelp.com advertiser, which will run background checks for a fee. Membership and use of EvacuationHelp.com itself is free.
Once parties connect, just like with a matchmaking service, it is up to the individuals to exchange names, phone numbers, addresses and make specific evacuation arrangements. Potential evacuation partners can also share pictures of their homes through the site.
Irene Toner, the director of emergency management for Monroe County, first took a look at the site last week and was impressed with the concept.
"I think it is a great idea," she said. "You have a lot of elderly people who are unable to evacuate and for them to have a partner, they would have a plan. It eases anxiety. They know they would be safe."
Dohm says he hopes EvacuationHelp.com will ultimately expand its involvement in disaster preparedness by building a nationwide network of local evacuation help teams. The site already has extra features, including a lost and found, a secure document storage system and an emergency notification e-mail system.
Having seen the images from Katrina and volunteered among the ruins of post-Charley Punta Gorda, Dohm understands who his new resource could help the most.
"I looked at the demographics of people who couldn't evacuate. It was mainly the poor," he said. "I thought, there has got to be a way to get them out of harm's way."

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Published on Monday, January 29, 2007