Summit held on Preparedness as the American Red Cross Responds to Hurricane Harvey
Summit held on Preparedness as the American Red Cross Responds to Hurricane Harvey
By Christopher Shuttlesworth
The American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois recently hosted a one-day summit, which included 100 business, government and community organizations, on disaster planning to build resiliency in response to different types of possible threats.
The 8th Annual American Red Cross Disaster Preparedness Summit, Bioterrorism and the Impact of Public Health in Community Recovery and Resiliency provides participants from both the public and private sectors with disaster preparedness planning tools and resources from subject-matter experts on bioterrorism preparedness, according to an American Red Cross press release.
“The event is focused on educating individuals from all different sectors and all different types of
levels on how we can better to prepare communities on how we should respond to different threats,”
said Martin Makowski, development officer for The American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois.
Makowski said we want people to have a plan so they will know what to do in an emergency situation
whether it’s a cyber-security situation, a residential home-fire or even an act of terrorism.
“If it’s a family then we want them to have a kit and we want them to have the basic supplies of water,
food, medication, contacts and photos of themselves,” he said. “We want people to make a plan and stay
informed,” adding, “in regards to skills, we want to make sure the professionals who are responsible for these situations have the right resources and make sure people are generally prepared for disaster situations,” he said.
Makowski said while the American Red Cross does not know precisely what percentage of the public may be prepared, he added, preparedness is important and said it’s an inexpensive endeavor.
“I think the idea is to protect lives and property,” Makowski said. “So we want to make sure we’re protecting the lives of ourselves, family, friends and colleagues in addition to our property. The better
we do in preparing for any type of disaster, then the more likely we are to easily protect life and property.”
Topics for the preparedness summit included: Public Health Emergency Response, Bioterrorism
Preparedness and Response Planning in Illinois, Private Sector Response to a Bioterrorism Event, Psychological Impact of Disasters as well as other topics.
Recently the American Red Cross launched the largest hurricane relief effort in years in response to Hurricane Harvey.
The Red Cross mobilized hundreds of trained Red Cross disaster relief workers, truckloads of kitchen supplies, and tens of thousands of ready to- eat meals to support the response effort.
Trailers full of shelter supplies including cots and blankets—enough to support more than 20,000
people—arrived in Texas and more than 40 Red Cross emergency response vehicles were activated
with more on alert, according to an American Red Cross press release. The Red Cross is also working
in close collaboration with government officials and community partners in both Texas and Louisiana to
coordinate response efforts.
Hurricane Harvey is causing unprecedented and catastrophic floods southeastern Texas. It is the first
major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, according to reports. HOW YOU CAN HELP The Red Cross depends on financial donations to be able to provide disaster relief immediately.
Help people affected by Hurricane Harvey by visiting redcross.org, calling 1- 800-RED CROSS or texting the word HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Donations enable the Red Cross to prepare
for, respond to and help people recover from this disaster.
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