Committed to Helping Make Families and Communities Safer From the Ravages of Natural Hazards

Every disaster is a very personal experience.

We in the American Red Cross know first-hand that in a burst of destructive fury, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other natural hazards rob families of their homes and belongings, cause major disruptions to businesses, and cost billions in property damage and economic losses. We also know from experience that the soaring social and economic costs of disasters can be dramatically reduced if families, businesses, and communities take proactive steps to reduce their vulnerability. Therefore, disaster preparedness and mitigation are top priorities of the American Red Cross. We have joined forces with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the insurance industry, emergency management and environment officials, educators, businesses, and other partners that are concerned about the increasing, and often unnecessary, losses caused by disasters. Together, we are leading efforts across the nation to do more, before disasters strike, to build a "culture of prevention" and to limit the harm inflicted on families and communities.

Our commitment to disaster safety can be traced back to our 1905 Congressional Charter. We are charged with "…continu(ing) and carry(ing) on a system of national and international relief in time of peace and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other great national calamities, and to devise and carry on measures for preventing the same."

The Red Cross has three primary roles in community disaster preparedness and mitigation: awareness and education, direct mitigation, and advocacy.

Awareness and Education
Our goals are: 1) to raise the public's awareness of the natural and human-caused hazards that threaten them; 2) to educate people on what they can and should do to better protect themselves and their property; and 3) to motivate them to take those steps. We develop and distribute a variety of materials designed to educate the public through our highly acclaimed Community Disaster Education (CDE) program. Our volunteers and employees, working through over 1,000 chapters, provide far-reaching electronic, printed and video materials as well as Public Service Announcements (PSAs) and community presentations that inform the public about how to stay safe and protect their home.

The Santa Barbara County Chapter, through its local partners, produced a year-long series of creative television PSAs that focuses on a different hazard (e.g., wildfire, earthquake) or topic (e.g., disaster supplies kits, special needs populations) each month. The campaign provides coordinated public information, outreach, and education to encourage residents and businesses to take steps, before disaster strikes, to reduce their exposure to disasters.

The Sierra-Nevada Chapter, working closely with their community partners, developed a children's music CD. A local area songwriter/composer contributed music and lyrics relating to disaster preparedness. Several of the tracks were in heavy rotation on a local radio station. Also, the text of the Red Cross Disaster Supplies Kit brochure was printed on the inside panel of each CD.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Allstate Insurance Company Foundation, the American Red Cross developed an innovative school-based curriculum aptly named Masters of Disaster™ . This curriculum, geared to children in grades K through 8, uses interactive lessons to bring disaster safety into a growing number of classrooms across the country by aligning these efforts with academic, standards-based learning. Just two years off the presses, Masters of Disaster™ is teaching tens of thousands of children the origins and impacts of natural hazards while studying standard subjects such as math, science, and language arts. Children then bring this vital life and property safety information home to their families and neighborhoods. After the horrific terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, we developed a special curriculum entitled Facing Fear which has been instrumental in helping children cope with the unthinkable and unexpected. Similarly, we also developed a new brochure and presentation for the general public entitled Preparing for the Unexpected.

Direct Mitigation
Direct mitigation consists of the actions and measures that prevent or reduce disaster losses, reflecting the old adage that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." These steps are usually taken only once and have long-term effects, thereby reducing the amount of assistance people need time and time again after facing the same disasters over and over.

In McEwen, Tennessee, the Red Cross worked with its community partners and government officials to build a permanent home for a family of four after a January 1999 tornado destroyed their double-wide mobile home and all of its contents. The tornado also severely injured the father who was the only family member at home at the time. Although he lived, the father's injuries left him a quadriplegic. Through the assistance of his family, the Red Cross and other partners, the family now lives in a permanent three-bedroom home that is totally handicap accessible and includes a tornado safe-room.

The Bay Area Chapter in Oakland, California has teamed up with other community volunteers to perform non-structural retrofits of the homes and apartments of low-income senior citizens. Latches are applied to cabinet doors, bookcases and shelves are bracketed to wall studs, and hot water heaters are anchored to prevent them from falling during an earthquake. Over500 homes have been retrofitted to date.

The Cincinnati Area Chapter in Ohio is demonstrating that mitigation pays dividends for the Red Cross and the people we serve. The chapter decided to elevate and not simply replace hot water heaters and furnaces in homes that are repeatedly flooded. The chapter's actions have spurred partnerships with other community non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity to assist in making low-income residents safer from disasters.

Advocacy
The Red Cross serves as a strong and unified voice for disaster safety at the local, state and national levels by supporting programs, ordinances, and legislation such as prudent land-use policies and effective building codes that are necessary to reduce the vulnerability of people and their property.

The Clinton-Northern Essex Chapter in New York has been a community leader for years in encouraging funding for and participation in over six different flood buyout programs. The chapter has made it easier for residents to participate in these programs by providing temporary relocation assistance and has helped more than 37 families over the years.

Chapters in Florida were instrumental in successfully urging the state to enact a statewide building code that will help to ensure that homes and other buildings in coastal areas are constructed in ways that increase their resistance to hurricane-force winds.

Finally, the Red Cross is also aggressively integrating disaster preparedness and mitigation into our disaster response and relief efforts to make sure that as we work with those individuals and families ravaged by disasters, we encourage them to rebuild their homes safer and stronger.