Hurricane Preparedness
With the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season underway, the Canadian Red Cross is supporting several national Red Cross societies in the Caribbean in order to properly prepare for potential disasters. The Canadian Red Cross has a strong relationship with partner national societies in the Caribbean and is on standby if needed with a roster of trained disaster response volunteers ready to be deployed.
Red Cross efforts seek to address heightened vulnerability to natural disasters during hurricane season, including flooding and landslides.Red Cross activities include emergency first aid courses, training in early warning systems, projects such as digging ditches and sandbagging hillsides and preparation of evacuation. Thanks to generous donations from Canadians following the Haiti earthquake, the Red Cross has been working closely with communities to prepare them for potential storms, given the country’s historical vulnerabilities in this area. Canadian donations have ensured that stock was prepositioned and communities were educated about disaster preparedness.
However, hurricane preparedness is about more than planning and responding once a disaster hits. While the strong winds and rain can’t be avoided, the Canadian Red Cross is working to make sure people live in hurricane-resistant communities, so there’s no disaster to respond to in the first place. In Haiti, where reconstruction from the 2010 earthquake is ongoing, to date the Red Cross has built 7,360 houses for families left homeless in that disaster. These homes exceed the standards for hurricane-force winds, and are designed and laid out in ways that reduce the potential of severe damage in a storm.
The Canadian Red Cross is always ready to respond should storms hit vulnerable communities in these countries. Local networks of volunteers provide immediate life-saving help, and Canadians are on standby with an emergency response unit field hospital, should a disaster outstrip local communities’ ability to respond.
