July is National Preparedness Month, so this is a good time to think about preparedness and about resilience. Resilience is a measure of a community's ability to recover from a disaster. Every community is vulnerable to disasters, and disasters come in different sizes and severity. Some communities are quite literally destroyed by a disaster, such as a flood or a tornado, but other communities band together and recover.
The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for, and respond to disasters. Recognizing the need for long-term recovery, the Red Cross has adopted a Community Resilience Strategy aimed at helping communities recover from disasters. A resilient community will be better able to fully recover after a disaster strikes. Resilience involves preparation, infrastructure, resources and attitudes.
Red Cross officials hope that by building up their resilience, more communities will be able to fully recover from disasters.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Friday, June 8, 2012
Hurricane Season's Early Visitors
The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season got under way last week, on June 1 to be exact, but a tropical storm waits for no man, or no calendar. Before June 1 ever rolled around, the Atlantic had already generated two tropical storms. Alberto and Beryl got into the act before their cue on the calendar. Alberto turned into a non-event, but Beryl gave residents of the Southeast a pretty good drenching from Florida to the Carolinas.
There is no cause-and-effect or predictive certainty about early-season tropical storms and the severity of hurricanes through the rest of the season, but these early arrivals should give everyone pause. Hurricane Irene caused severe damage to North Carolina coastal communities nine months ago, and many victims are still struggling to recover. Another storm on the N.C. coast would compound the misery of these struggling victims.
The Red Cross is doing two things to address this issue. Red Cross disaster relief personnel are taking a longer-term view of the people they help and will, when appropriate, become advocates for them with other agencies. Red Cross personnel are also participating in long-term recovery committees in several communities where those committees are active. Secondly, Red Cross Disaster Services is putting added emphasis on hurricane preparation in 2012. Shelter sites are being identified and contracted. Food providers are being asked to sign agreements to provide food during an emergency. And volunteers are being trained to operate the shelters that will become necessary if any substantial storm strikes the N.C. coast. Hurricane Irene prompted the largest sheltering operation in North Carolina since 1999 (Hurricane Floyd). The lesson learned is that the Red Cross must be even better prepared than it was last year, when the need for shelters far exceeded expectations.
There is no cause-and-effect or predictive certainty about early-season tropical storms and the severity of hurricanes through the rest of the season, but these early arrivals should give everyone pause. Hurricane Irene caused severe damage to North Carolina coastal communities nine months ago, and many victims are still struggling to recover. Another storm on the N.C. coast would compound the misery of these struggling victims.
The Red Cross is doing two things to address this issue. Red Cross disaster relief personnel are taking a longer-term view of the people they help and will, when appropriate, become advocates for them with other agencies. Red Cross personnel are also participating in long-term recovery committees in several communities where those committees are active. Secondly, Red Cross Disaster Services is putting added emphasis on hurricane preparation in 2012. Shelter sites are being identified and contracted. Food providers are being asked to sign agreements to provide food during an emergency. And volunteers are being trained to operate the shelters that will become necessary if any substantial storm strikes the N.C. coast. Hurricane Irene prompted the largest sheltering operation in North Carolina since 1999 (Hurricane Floyd). The lesson learned is that the Red Cross must be even better prepared than it was last year, when the need for shelters far exceeded expectations.
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