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.