Disaster preparedness and the role of Red Cross, Red Crescent volunteers

When disaster strikes, it is critical that people know what to do. Having systems in place to warn communities of impending danger and assist afterwards can save lives. In 186 countries Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies are there to provide immediate disaster relief. Community volunteers are on call and ready to assist with all relief activities including contingency planning, early warning and search and rescue.

The International Federation believes disaster preparedness decreases the impact of disasters, and reduces vulnerability, which helps people to live safe and productive lives. Community-level programmes are developed to find appropriate and sustainable solutions to be better prepared for and to respond to future disasters. Therefore the Federation has been focusing on strengthening the national and regional capacities of the communities in disaster-prone areas to reduce vulnerability from natural disasters.

Red Cross and Red Crescent play a vital role in disseminating early warning and safety information at the local level by mobilising volunteers and community members. These volunteers run successful disaster preparedness programmes based on the local needs – such as community-based first aid training. They support their local communities before, during and after the disasters. For instance, Red Cross volunteers reach out to the public by the use of megaphones or door-to-door campaigns, as well as contributing to the immediate rescue work, which saves a large number of lives during crisis.

The simple and practical bringing together of technologies for early warning – including satellite reporting and ocean-floor sensors – with community-based resources – trained volunteers to get information about an impending disaster to local people – can save many lives. This method of information dissemination has already been shown to be successful in Bangladesh.

Since the tsunamis struck, there has been much talk about the importance of meteorological monitoring, ocean-floor sensors and redirecting satellite paths. Of course, all of these technologies are important, but they are clearly only one piece of the puzzle. Early warning systems have limitations – once the danger is identified, how is the message disseminated to local (particularly isolated) communities? Clearly, what is required are the nexus of technologies and grass-roots networks.

This is where the participation of Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers is vital.

One of the clearest examples of excellent coordination between all stakeholders comes from one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, Bangladesh, where the annual monsoon and cyclone season devastates large parts of the country and the population. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, with the support of the Government, scientific centres and other partners, learned lessons early. In 1972, in the wake of the devastating 1970 cyclone season which took half a million lives, these groups initiated the Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) as a partnership.

The CPP can now alert 8 million people living in at-risk coastal areas. The warning system relies on Asia’s biggest radio network linking the capital, Dhaka, with 143 radio stations. Alerts are then relayed to 33,000 village-based volunteers, who pass on the warning by megaphone to their village communities. This system has now been expanded to include other hazards, and is augmented with year-round awareness-raising and education activities including regular drills to ensure that system works when needed. The result is that human losses have been considerably reduced. In 2004, one of the worst monsoon seasons for decades, while 36 million people felt the effect of the flooding, 747 lives were lost.