The past weeks have brought no shortage of disasters.
- In late September, the Central Illinois Chapter sent volunteers from Peoria and Champaign to assist flood victims in Georgia.
- Then, the American Red Cross mobilized in American Samoa, where a tsunami swept across the island after a powerful earthquake hit the South Pacific.
- On Sept. 30, an earthquake measuring 7.6 shook Indonesia’s western coastline, setting off a destructive chain of events -- buildings caught fire, homes collapsed, airports closed, and residents and tourists became trapped. In Padang alone, at least 500 homes were caved in.
- Additionally, relief workers are helping with the ongoing typhoon response in the Philippines, Vietnam and Laos after Typhoon Ketsana made its first landfall and dumped torrential rains.
The Red Cross and our international partners need your help so that we may help others.
Please take a moment to read, watch, listen learn about these disaster relief needs, both global and domestic. Thank you for your support.
Tracy Reines, Director of the International Response Center, provides a weekend update of American Red Cross relief operations in the Asia Pacific region. Ongoing recovery efforts continue in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Samoa and American Samoa as a major typhoon, earthquakes and a tsunami ravaged the area this week.
Kristen Anderson, with the Church of Good Shepard in Austell, Ga., talks about how the Red Cross brought “tons and tons” of food to the church for them to distribute to the area residents affected by the floods. The Central Illinois Chapter sent two volunteers to Georgia, one from Creve Coeur and one from Champaign.
Bill Malfara, Director of Disaster Operations Staffing, explains the establishment of the American Red Cross disaster relief operation in American Samoa. As efforts continue over an extended period, the operations on the ground change with client needs. Initially the focus is meeting overall basic needs such as feeding. Later in the relief effort the the focus shifts to the specific needs of individual families.
Kristen Anderson, with the Church of Good Shepard in Austell, Ga.,discusses the comfort and relief she felt in seeing Red Cross volunteers during the Southeastern U.S. flooding.