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Red Cross responds to Chilean earthquake
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
| On Saturday, a huge earthquake struck in Chile, and Debi Meeds, executive director of the Greater Ozarks Chapter of the American Red Cross said, "Our hearts go out to the people of Chile as they cope with the immediate aftermath of this devastating earthquake and its aftershocks." |
| The American Red Cross has made an initial $50,000 available for relief operations in Chile following Saturday's massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake; and they stand ready to mobilize additional support, including relief supplies, trained personnel and additional financial assistance. |
A regional Red Cross disaster expert is now in Chile working with the local Red Cross to assess the situation, while an American Red Cross representative and a team of other Red Cross emergency workers are en route.
| Chilean Red Cross volunteers are providing limited search and rescue services, administering first aid and distributing pre-positioned supplies in close coordination with the Chilean National Emergency Office. | Volunteers in the affected region have been asked to report to their nearest branch office to support the response. |
| The Chilean Red Cross has 29 branches in Bio Bio and 14 in Maule. |
As the largest global humanitarian network, the Red Cross has both the experience and the capacity to respond simultaneously to multiple disasters. Today, the organization is supporting the Chilean Red Cross in their response to the earthquake while relief operations continue in Haiti. Last fall the Red Cross responded to a series of major disasters that hit the Asia and Pacific region within a week: back-to-back typhoons in southeast Asia, an earthquake in Indonesia and a tsunami in America Samoa and Samoa.