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14 September 2001 By Holly Hall and John Larkin, American Red Cross Compassion, advice and emergency supplies; Red Cross personnel are working hard to meet the needs of relief workers and grieving Americans in a country stunned by Tuesday's devastating terrorist attacks. To bring essential supplies into New York City, the American Red Cross has teamed up with train company Amtrak and Coca-Cola to establish the Clara Barton Express train. The continued suspension of air traffic means supplies are getting low in the city. The train, named after the founder of the American Red Cross, is being used to transport 20,000 clean-up kits, 20,000 hygiene kits, cases of paper tissues and beverages. Included in the supplies are eye-drops and dust masks, two items not normally delivered to disaster scenes. "It is not enough to just see the images on television. Everybody is asking what he or she can do to help," said American Red Cross President Dr. Bernadine Healy at Union Station in Washington, as she boarded the train. "Today, we are doing our small part," she added. As relief workers continued to search the debris of the collapsed skyscrapers of New York's World Trade Center for survivors and bodies, Red Cross emergency response vehicles circulated around the city. They offered food, counselling and other items unique to this tragedy, such as saline solution to help workers wash their eyes, stinging from the dust and smoke still in the air. The Center collapsed after two hijacked planes crashed into it on September 11, showering downtown New York in rubble and dust. A third plane crashed into the government's Pentagon building in Washington, and a fourth fell in rural Pennsylvania. No organisation has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks that left hundreds dead, many more injured and up to 5,000 still missing, according to press and government reports. As hope fades for those still missing, trained Red Cross mental health workers are providing advice and compassion to the thousands of friends and relatives who are worried sick about missing loved ones. The Red Cross has teamed up with television's Channel 13 in New York to set up a missing persons hotline, where volunteer mental health workers are helping to inform callers whether their loved ones have been identified as survivors from lists sent in by local hospitals. More health workers have joined a recently-opened family compassion centre on 26th Street, which is recording details on missing persons. The centre has so far registered 2,000 missing individuals and has been visited by more than 2,500 people, according to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. The centre is collecting information about the missing persons, including dental records, hair samples and other identifying facts. At American Red Cross headquarters in Washington and across the nation, people continued to pour in to give blood donations. Such is the dedication of people wanting to give blood, that 100 would-be blood donors at one centre chose to wait five hours rather than reschedule a future appointment. Volunteers from hospitals in the Washington region are being drafted into the bloodrives, to cope with the great number of people arriving to donate. It is not just Americans who are donating; the tragedy has touched people worldwide. "I've spoken to people from Mexico, Sweden Australia, China, from all over," said Dr. Jason Bellows, brought in from George Washington University Hospital. His colleague Dr Claudia Ranniger agreed: "It's very heartwarming to see these people rolling up their sleeves for the Red Cross and for the rest of the nation in need of their blood." Petrit Mahmuti of Pristina, Kosovo, who had flown into Washington for a short vacation three days before the quadruple airline crashes, said that he walked for hours Wednesday and spent another two hours Thursday, searching for the Red Cross, so he too could donate blood. "In my country, we have been under war attacks and terrorist conditions for more than 10 years and aid from the Red Cross - food, clothes and medicine - was very important in our neighbourhoods," he said. "I understand how Americans feel at this moment. It is my honour to be here at the Red Cross now. It is not very much, but I want to give a little bit of my health to the American people." Related links American Red Cross web site - for up-to-date information about all American Red Cross activities, how to make a cash donations or donate blood. Other Federation stories, reports and links |
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