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 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.
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.
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.
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. |
