Red Cross Helps September 11 Victims around the World

Written by Mason Anderson, Staff Writer, RedCross.org

September 10, 2002 — When Stacy Ragan enrolled in the Peace Corps, she was given three choices of where she might serve: Latin America, the Baltic Regions and Africa. Deciding she wanted an entirely new experience, Ragan worked with the organization on alternate locations and was soon one of only a handful of volunteers serving in Turkmenistan, a former republic of the Soviet Union adjacent to Afghanistan’s western border.

Stacy Ragan (back row, second to left) joined the American Red Cross International Response Team (IRT) in New York City to help international families affected by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

The last thing Ragan expected was that her service would soon be needed in one of the most economically and technologically advanced places in the world: New York City.

On September 11, Ragan joined fellow Turkmenistan volunteers and watched footage of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. Shortly afterwards, she was contacted by the Peace Corps and notified that all volunteers in the region were being brought home as the threat of war loomed. Just days later, Ragan was on a plane back to the United States.

”Because we were acclimated to the different cultures we were living in, we were brought to Washington, D.C. for a debriefing on how to return to ‘normal life’. But there was nothing normal about D.C. at that time. It was all very surreal,” said Ragan.

For nearly one month, Ragan lived with her parents in their Atlanta, Ga. home trying to get used to not only being back in the United States, but also back in the United States post-September 11. Then she heard that Peace Corps volunteers were being recruited to help the American Red Cross relief effort in New York City.

”I just felt like I had to go,” said Ragan. “There were so many families coming from around the world, the Red Cross needed people with international experience. The Peace Corps volunteers pulled from their assignments were a perfect resource.”

For nearly ten months, Ragan worked in a Red Cross Family Assistance Center (FAC), helping families arriving from around the world claim the belongings of loved ones killed in the attacks. Serving in the International Disaster Response Unit (IDRU), a group designed to provide immediate international disaster operations, Ragan ensured that international families received all the assistance necessary to help them cope with the devastating effects of September 11.

”Can you imagine arriving in New York City in the days and weeks following September 11, having never been to the United States before? You don’t speak any English and you’ve just lost a loved one in the terrorist attacks but you have to do things like settle their estates. That’s why we were there - to help them get from point A to point B and help them with any need they may have during such a difficult time," Ragan said.

Largest International Effort in Red Cross History

Since its 1999 inception, the IDRU had never responded to a disaster in the United States. The mandate of the IDRU is to respond to disasters overseas and there had not been a need for the IDRU to become involved in a domestic disaster - until September 11.

“As the domestic disaster relief operation went along, it became clear that many of the victims had relatives all over the world. The Red Cross dispatched the IDRU to ensure that those families received similar assistance to families living in the United States,” Ragan explained.

Using the domestic disaster operation as a guide, International Services created a service delivery system for international needs that was developed to merge seamlessly with the Disaster Services operation.

The Red Cross established the September 11 International Family Assistance Program (IFAP) to provide the overseas families of foreign nationals affected in the September 11 attack access to the services and assistance provided at the disaster sites. Although initially focused on bereavement travel services, mass care and mental health counseling, in December the program was expanded to include the Family Gift program, which provides cash assistance to family members who were financially dependent on a loved one killed in the terrorist attacks.

”To ensure that the victims’ families were receiving all the help they needed, we worked closely with Red Cross societies around the world,” said Ragan. “It was a large undertaking, but the outpouring of people wanting to help was incredible.”

In fact, the Red Cross and Red Crescent international response became one of the largest global operations in the organization’s history. More than 64 Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies from around the world worked with the American Red Cross to provide financial assistance, travel means and mental health counseling to affected families around the world.

“The global response to September 11 has been one of the most amazing things I’ve been a part of,” said Ragan. “The American Red Cross had societies from countries so much smaller and so much poorer than the U.S. making donations of time and money to help them. In almost every National Society the person working on our cases has a regular job and this work has been added to their regular load. The American Red Cross could not have provided services overseas without the assistance of our sister National Societies. The United States was never in a position where we needed a large amount of international help. But on September 11 everything changed, and we realized how vulnerable we all are.”

All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. The Red Cross also supplies nearly half of the nation's lifesaving blood. This, too, is made possible by generous voluntary donations. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. You can make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-435-7669) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. To donate blood, please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or contact your local Red Cross to find out about upcoming blood drives.