American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund in Jeopardy as Most Active Hurricane Months Arrive

American Red Cross
Wednesday, 6 August 2003

Urgent Call for Help Issued to the Public after String of Disasters Brings Balance to 11-Year Low

Over the past year, the American Red Cross spent $114.3 million from its Disaster Relief Fund to provide assistance to victims of more than 3,300 disasters throughout the United States and its territories. Donations, however, totaled just $39.5 million. As a result, the Disaster Relief Fund has reached its lowest level in more than a decade, and the Red Cross is appealing to the public and corporations for help.

The Disaster Relief Fund enables the Red Cross to help immediately whenever and wherever disaster strikes. As of June 30, 2003, the fund had a cash balance of just $1.2 million - a critically low level, particularly heading into what are traditionally the most active and destructive months of hurricane season.

Weather experts have predicted that hurricane season this year will be more active and intense than in years past. Red Cross officials are concerned that the organization's relief funds are so low when the potential for storms lurks just around the corner - storms that are not only destructive, but expensive for those who provide relief.

In the past year alone, hurricanes, tropical storms and typhoons have cost the Red Cross $43.6 million - that's nearly 40 percent of the total Red Cross disaster relief costs. One has only to look at the list of costliest disasters in American Red Cross history to see the devastating impact of tropical activity. Of the top 15 on that list, hurricanes, tropical storms and typhoons make up two-thirds of the Red Cross' most expensive relief operations.

Near the top of the list is the Hurricane Georges, the most expensive natural disaster relief operation in Red Cross history at $101 million (Georges is #2 on the overall list, behind the September 11 attacks). Five years ago in September, Georges ripped across the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands before slamming into the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. In all, some 187,402 families turned to the Red Cross for shelter, dry clothes, medicine and more. In response to Georges, the Red Cross undertook one of its largest ever mass care operations by opening 1,103 shelters and serving nearly 1.1 million meals.

"Next month, we join the thousands affected by Hurricane Georges in commemorating five years' worth of rebuilding efforts following this catastrophic storm," said Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO, American Red Cross. "Today, there is a real lesson to be learned from Hurricane Georges: preparedness is key. For the Red Cross, being prepared not only means having trained volunteers, supplies and equipment ready to go - it means that we must have adequate funds to be able respond before and after landfall."

Evans said that the Disaster Relief Fund has been decimated by a string of expensive disasters over the past six months - from a multi-state tornado outbreak in May to December's Supertyphoon Pongsona on the U.S. territory of Guam. Like Hurricane Georges, which struck U.S. territories in the Caribbean, Pongsona did her damage far from the U.S. mainland. The one-two Pacific punch of Pongsona in December, plus Typhoon Chata'an in the same region just five months earlier, cost the Red Cross $26.7 million -- a quarter of what the Red Cross spent for the entire year for disaster relief. Yet because these relief operations happened so far away, very few people even knew the typhoons had struck, much less that the Red Cross was helping and that funds were needed. The result? Pongsona was the most expensive relief operation for the Red Cross last year, but only brought in $1 million in donations.

"I believe that the public is simply not aware how dire our situation is," Evans said. "Once our partners, our corporate supporters and the general public realize the gravity of the situation, I'm sure they'll support our efforts to help others. After all, it is ultimately their families and neighbors who benefit, because the Disaster Relief Fund makes the care and compassion for disaster victims possible whenever and wherever tragedy strikes."

Evans stressed that the Red Cross will continue to provide essential disaster relief such as temporary shelter, food, clothing, and health and mental health services to disaster victims, but that Red Cross officials will have to look for stop-gap methods to pay for this assistance until the relief fund can be boosted back to a healthy balance. Ideally, the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund should maintain a balance of $56 million in order to respond to disasters large and small that occur simultaneously.

"I urge every American to look into their hearts, to find that compassion for others that makes this country strong, and to give as much or as little as you can," Evans said. "We have shown the world that America can achieve strength through adversity. Now it's time to stand up for those in need once again. To make a financial contribution to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief fund, please call 1-800-HELP-NOW or visit the Red Cross Web site at www.redcross.org."

All Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. Donations are being collected at Coinstar machines at local grocery stores across America. To find the nearest Coinstar machine, visit www.findcoinstar.com. Call 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Also, contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make secure online credit card donations by visiting www.redcross.org.

For more information, or to contact American Red Cross, see their website at: www.redcross.org