Tag Archives: Disaster Response

Loma Prieta Earthquake: “This disaster was a wake-up call for all emergency response organizations.”

Posted on by

Mary H. Lee, Red Cross Disaster Health Services Volunteer, shared her memories of the Loma Prieta Earthquake.

A Red Cross pin, the perfect way of thanking all the dedicated volunteers who helped during the Earthquake Disaster Relief Operation
Photo courtesy of Mary H. Lee

“As we were standing outside our newly renovated home in Belmont on October 17, 1989 at 5 pm, we shook hands with  our contractor to thank him for a job well done. Moments later the ground shook under us. We looked at our house and smiled as it was still standing. At that time little did we know of the severity of the earthquake.  

Late that evening I was called in by the San Mateo Red Cross Chapter to staff a shelter as Disaster Health Service (DHS) Nurse. It was eerie to drive down a darkened highway 101 with no cars on the road to the shelter located in a hotel in Burlingame. The people in the hotel shelter were a tour group that had their trip interrupted. It was a very quiet night. 

Read more

The Bridge to Hope and Help: Meet Kane Wong, Bay Area Chapter’s Clara Barton Award Recipient

Posted on by

By Jill Feldon and Martin Gagliano

Photo courtesy of Kane Wong

A fire broke out in a multi-family, 38-unit apartment complex in Oakland, leaving the building uninhabitable and its residents displaced. Most didn’t speak English and desperately needed assistance. While a temporary shelter was available for a couple of nights, the fire caused such extensive damage that it would take months of repairs before the families could move back in.

Kane Wong and his American Red Cross team called many potential shelters and arranged for a church in the neighborhood to provide shelter for the affected individuals for an extended period of time. “We also arranged for a translator, feeding and other assistance from our partners,” he said. “It’s great to make things happen, lessening client anxiety and misery.” Kane also commented that the church thanked the Red Cross for allowing them to participate in the relief efforts. This collaboration furthers the church’s goals to support the community.

Read more

Greedy Good Work 

Posted on by

In 2022, Jesse Kilgore was serving in the U.S. Army in Germany when he got an unexpected call. Thanks to the smart thinking of his sister – who is also a veteran – and the American Red Cross’ emergency communication service, Jesse learned that his father was dying.  He needed to get to Los Angeles right away so he could say goodbye.  

But Jesse didn’t have the money to fly halfway across the world. So once again the American Red Cross came through. Jesse was gifted with the cost to fly to LA just before his father passed away. 

That experience inspired Jesse to pay back the Red Cross “not with money, but with my own labor,” Jesse said. He signed up to help the Red Cross with disaster services. Communities and families depend on the Red Cross and its volunteers to provide comfort and support following a disaster such as wildfires, floods, and hurricanes by opening shelters, providing warm meals, offering critical financial help and supporting them through the recovery phase among other services.  

Read more

Red Cross Memories of the Maui Wildfires: Finding Meaning and Solutions after a Disaster 

Posted on by

Reflections, One Year Later 

One August morning in 2023, Katie “Sully” Sullivan awoke to the first news segments about the Maui wildfires. An experienced American Red Cross Disaster Program Manager for Alameda County, she soon realized things were going to get bad. Later, the phone rang. It was American Red Cross national headquarters asking her to deploy. “Over the six years I’ve been with the Red Cross, I’ve seen the aftermath of large-scale disasters, from hurricanes to tornadoes to floods. Each brought unique challenges,” she recently said when remembering the disaster nearly a year later. But for Sully, this one stood out.  

Hurricane Dora crashing into Maui’s tinder-dry foliage on August 8, 2023, meant there was little warning for what would become the worst natural disaster in the archipelago’s recorded history. The result: the historic district of Lahaina was virtually vaporized—as were sections of Palehu and the smaller Upcountry community of Kula—causing approximately 100 fatalities. A year later, the effort to heal and rebuild is still underway.  

Read more

The Fabric of Humanity’s Quilt

Posted on by

By Quinn Aftab

Photo courtesy of Jill Hofmann

In the floods of 1981-82, the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area were surrounded by 25-inch rainfalls that hit the mountains ruthlessly, causing 33 deaths and damaging over 7,800 homes and businesses. In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the heavy rains triggered mudslides that blocked road access to the upper regions, burying buildings and trapping people.

Jill Hofmann, a licensed marriage, family and child therapist, was one of the residents of Santa Cruz County who was recruited to be part of the County Mental Health Team in 1981, quickly arose to support impacted residents, providing grief counseling and helping them cope.

However, the physical and mental efforts she remembered enduring, such as visiting community shelters or climbing over tree trunks to deliver packaged food, were just the beginning of her story as a Red Crosser. In fact, during the floods, Jill truly saw the lasting kindness and compassion of her fellow volunteers, after which she began her own journey of 43 years as a Red Cross volunteer.

Read more

“The most unusual deployment I have ever had”

Posted on by
Photo courtesy of Ann Kuchins / American Red Cross

Ann Kuchins’ 1 yr Reflection of Typhoon Mawar Experience in Guam

Ann Kuchins recounts Typhoon Mawar as a unique deployment that gifted her with first-time experiences, some of which she could not have anticipated.

As a Red Crosser, Ann has prepared to volunteer several times in disaster-affected areas, including the fatal wildfire in Paradise, California.  Going to Guam was “the most unusual deployment I have ever had,” said Ann

The typhoon that hit Guam in May 2023 was by far the worst the island had experienced in the last 20 years, though typhoons were nothing new to Guam.  

Read more
« Older Entries Recent Entries »