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American Red Cross Sends Supplies, Personnel to Bay of Bengal
Tuesday, January 04, 2005 — The American Red Cross is sending additional personnel to support the ever-growing relief effort in the Bay of Bengal, while responders already on the ground are working to develop quick and efficient distribution systems for aid pouring into the devastated region.
A team of three American Red Cross workers will leave the Washington, D.C.-area on Wednesday to join those already on the ground in Sri Lanka. The additional staff includes one communications specialist and two relief distribution specialists. This new contingent will join a group of four, led by Relief Emergency Response Unit (ERU) Team Leader Matthew Parry, already on the ground and receiving goods for distribution from an International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement warehouse in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, in coordination with other partners.
Emergency relief supplies from the ICRC await distribution from the airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Photo courtesy ICRC/O. Gisler. |
The American Red Cross is also dispatching a mental health worker to join Indian Red Cross Society volunteers in the Maldives, where an estimated 75 people were killed, and more than 20,000 others are displaced or homeless. All told, 16 American Red Cross personnel are being deployed shortly to areas in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, with expertise in family tracing, water and sanitation, logistics, and mental health.
Meanwhile, a shipment of family tents from American Red Cross supplies prepositioned in Dubai is due to arrive in Sri Lanka this week. Other relief supplies pre-positioned in the region will be mobilized shortly to the affected areas.
The American Red Cross is also being represented at a meeting about the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s tsunami disaster response hosted by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies today in Geneva, Switzerland.
As the relief effort progresses in the Bay of Bengal, across the United States the outpouring of support for the tsunami victims has been huge. The best way to help those affected is to make a financial contribution to a disaster relief organization like the American Red Cross. This cash allows immediate deployment of relief personnel, supplies and assistance most needed by those affected. The American Red Cross is not able to accept small, individual donations or collections of items for this crisis. Donations of cash also allow the Red Cross to purchase relief items directly in the region, eliminating the costs of shipping and transport from the United States and stimulating the devastated local economy.
You can help those affected by the earthquake and tsunami emergency in Southern Asia and Eastern Africa and countless other crises around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance, and other support to those in need. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Donations can also be mailed to your local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make secure online credit card donations by visiting www.redcross.org.
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