Tag: Relief

A Day in the Life of a Disaster Action Team Member

Heath Wakelee

At 12:30 am early Wednesday  morning the phone rang and the cheerful but very dreary voice of Debbie Calcote was saying hello.  I recognized her voice immediately and knew that Debbie would only be calling me if she had exhausted all other options.  Sure nuff – that was the case.

OK I said, I’ll go to Woodland…..Woodland??  Michael Reeves from Sacramento was my partner and he arrived about 1:05 am, 10 minutes before me.  He had called me and said that the location had no fire equipment and no clients.  “Holed on” I said, I’ll be there in 10 minutes and I was.

The street was wet and outside both the front and back doors there was evidence of burned debris being thrown out.  The smell of smoke was fresh but no clients and no fire department…..so I called Debbie.  No contact info for the clients who said that they would stick around and wait for us.  Which they did not.

Fortunately (use of that word is debatable) for Debbie – she had just received another request for a DAT response to Knights Landing.  “Where is Knights Landing” I said and Debbie said “I don’t know.”  Great…I’m thinking it is down in the delta somewhere…..so I punched the address into my navigation system and fortunately it said that the address was only 20 minutes away.  It was now about 1:30 am when Michael and I headed to Knights Landing.

We arrived at about 2:00 am to find a single woman standing near her burned out mobile home.  Temperature about 35°F.  Luckily the trailer park manager allowed us to use her tiny office to do the paperwork.  Our client’s  options were few so we helped her with lodging, food and clothing, comfort kit and well wishes.  We do not carry street sheets for every county nor lists of hotels and perhaps we can put that on the web somewhere so it would be accessible to anyone in need (or perhaps it is already available and I just don’t have the info).

We departed at 3:00 am and I was home at 4:00 am to enter the paperwork and hit the sack by 5:00 am this morning.  Sleep was compromised because the house was very, very cold – turns out the heating system went out and the temperature outside was a cool 34°F.  Fortunately is was only in the low 60s inside.  Long story short – heater repair is now scheduled for tomorrow – Thursday.  Burrrr.

Very glad that we were able to help the one client.  Hopefully She is sleeping somewhere warm tonight.   Our electric blankets will be on high.

My very best to all …. and to all a good night.

2nd Anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan – The Red Cross Response

September 3, 2015. Tolosa, Leyte, Philippines. Children in Tolosa wash their hands at San Vicente Elementary School. The American Red Cross and Spanish Red Cross installed this running water in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, which damaged and destroyed houses, schools, and infrastructure in its path. Photo by Niki Clark/American Red Cross
September 1, 2015. Dulag, Leyte, Philippines Reynan Cayubit, 29, and Francisco Latoja, 27, work as carpenters at a Red Cross workshop that build houses for Typhoon Haiyan survivors. Both of their houses were destroyed by the typhoon and they have both since rebuilt them using the money they earn at the workshop. Francisco is now paying for his wife to go to school to become a teacher with the money he earns. In an effort to put people back to work after the storm, the American Red Cross trains local carpenters and pays them to construct the houses from start to finish. This project is in collaboration with the German Red Cross. Photo by Philippines Red Cross/ Thyjiacinth Ylla Mavourneen Dyde Ocampo 2015
September 3, 2015. Tolosa, Leyte, Philippines Children from Tanghas Elementary School show off their new Red Cross backpacks. The students continue to enjoy their school, repaired with funds from the American Red Cross in 2014 in partnership with the Spanish Red Cross. Children received backpacks full of supplies to start the school year. The Red Cross installed hand water pumps, constructed six new latrines, and repaired classrooms that were badly damaged by Typhoon Haiyan. Even though it was ravaged by high winds and fallen coconut trees, about 20 families used the school as a shelter in the aftermath of the typhoon. One hundred and thirty-two students, from kindergarten to sixth grade, attend Tanghas Elementary School. The school’s five teachers all survived the storm and returned to teach this year. All the surrounding schools are full, so if this one wasn’t able to reopen, they’d have nowhere else to get their education. The Red Cross trains local people on carpentry, plumping, electrical and construction skills and then pays them to repair schools like Tanghas Elementary. “Without the Red Cross repairing the school, I don’t know what would happen to our children,” said school official, Noresita A. Go. This project is in collaboration with the Spanish Red Cross. Photo by Niki Clark/American Red Cross

Two years after Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in the Philippines, families are rebuilding their lives, livelihoods, and communities thanks, in part, to generous donations to the American Red Cross.

By addressing a wide range of communities’ needs, we were able to help them recover in a way that is sustainable in the long-term, such as investing in water and sanitation, school repair, and small businesses.

Here in the Gold Country Region we were able to raise $1.055M in a day-long telethon that aired on KCRA3, which always shows how great and giving our community is. That was just what was raised locally; but overall, the American Red Cross received $88 million for Haiyan’s relief and recovery efforts. As of September 30, 2015, 98% of these funds have been spent or committed.

Donors would be proud to see what their donations have accomplished in typhoon-affected communities:  beyond lifesaving supplies in the storm’s immediate aftermath, donors would see repaired schools, sturdier homes, healthier water infrastructure, new business, and neighborhoods that are better prepared for future disasters.

Besides raising funds, our board members, volunteers and staff were able to do a lot of outreach with Asian Pacific Islander community groups in our region by providing information and helping them connect with family members that were still in the Philippines. Additionally, our volunteer Kathy Pascoe was helping with the relief efforts remotely by providing Client Case Work support.

This was one of the strongest storms ever recorded and it damaged more than one million homes, so the American Red Cross is helping people repair and rebuild homes made of materials that are more able to withstand strong winds, heavy rain, and flooding.

With American Red Cross support, 10,000 families are now living in safer shelter. This includes more than 3,200 families who are now living in new homes and more than 6,600 who received cash, materials, and technical support to reconstruct their houses to better withstand future disasters.

The Red Cross moved quickly to address people’s immediate needs after the typhoon. After two years, we are still in the Philippines, ensuring that families’ recovery is sustainable and helping people prepare for future disasters that may come their way.

For more information on this relief effort, pictures and video click here.