DART is a non-partisan, nonprofit, educational organization that conducts research and training to prepare ordinary people to act in the face of disasters.
Purpose
DART seeks to prevent natural disasters from becoming human catastrophes by shaping the actions of ordinary people.
Mission and Vision
DART conducts action research and training in order to address the gap between the ordinary person’s ability to react to the onset of disaster and the government’s ability to respond. This includes core competency training for disaster volunteers, response groups, and organizations.
DART’s vision is to transform passive victims of disasters into active agents in their own rescue and response in a manner that enables long-term recovery.
DART’s unique value lies in its skilled cadre with extensive qualifications to train volunteers in rescue and response. As disasters become more frequent and severe, the need for DART’s cadre to train volunteers will continue to rise.
Goals
Most victims are rescued by their neighbors – DART seeks to train them
Emergency response services may be overwhelmed – DART seeks to lighten the load
Initial response underpins effective recovery – DART seeks to enable it
Research
As we face ever more damaging and frequent disasters, we must be armed with continuously updated knowledge of how prepare for, respond to, and recover from them.
Action research involves practitioners thinking about what they are doing as they are doing it and learning how to do it better. DART employs action research to enable continual improvement in both training and real-world settings.