Disaster Services
The
American Red Cross is mandated by congress to provide prompt relief to victims
of disaster. Disaster victims include those involved in fires, floods,
tornadoes, or hazardous material accidents, hurricanes and other natural
disasters.
While the Hancock County Red Cross has provided disaster
assistance in the Hamilton/Warsaw Tornadoes of '99, the Dallas City Tornado in
'95 and the Great Flood of '93, most of the Red Cross relief action in Hancock
County involves assisting local victims of fires and flash flooding. Red Cross
assistance is geared toward meeting immediate emergency needs such as food,
clothing, medicine and shelter. In the larger disasters of '93, '95 and '99, Red
Cross assistance included sheltering, emergency groceries, clothing, medicine,
rent, comfort kits, clean-up kits, minor home repairs, laundry supplies, and
work clothes. Hot meals were also delivered by volunteers in the Emergency
Response Vehicle (ERV) to victims, emergency workers, and clean-up crews.
The Hancock County Red Cross is continually preparing for
disaster, and volunteers are always welcome. Training and preparation can make
the difference between chaos and getting the job done. Training classes are
offered. Volunteers are needed on both the local and national level. Your
level of involvement is completely up to you.
The first level of response
for the Hancock County Red Cross is the Disaster Action Team (referred to as
DAT.) Hancock County has eight DATs in the county. Our teams are in
Augusta/Plymouth, Bentley/Bowen/Denver, Carthage, Dallas City, Hamilton, LaHarpe,
Nauvoo, and Warsaw.
The DAT responds at all hours to any verified call received
from fire departments, family member, neighbors, etc. the Hancock County
Chapter can be reached by calling (217)357-9079. After-hour calls can be made
to our emergency pager service at (217)221-2185.
DAT teams also help the Hancock County Chapter to respond to
larger scale disaster. They are reinforced by other chapter disaster
volunteers. In the event the disaster requires more trained personnel than the
chapter can provide, the Hancock County chapter has a partnership with Adams,
Brown, McDonough, and Pike counties through the Illinois State Red Cross Zone 12
structure. In the event of the disaster requiring even more resources, such as
the Flood of 1993, we can draw assistance from the American Red Cross's Disaster
Services Human Resources (DSHR) program.
This is a pool of volunteers from around the country who are available to work a
disaster response for up to three weeks anywhere in the country or state. The
DSHR are the backbone of the Red Cross.
The American Red Cross provides the transportation, meals,
and lodging for the DSHR volunteer. In return they ask for up to three weeks of
your time to help the victims of disaster. Some companies will allow employees
to take a leave of absence for disaster work and others, such as state
employees, are provided a paid leave for disaster work.
If you are interested in becoming a DSHR volunteer please
call the Hancock County Red Cross at (217)357-9079. The American Red Cross is
desperately in need of DSHR volunteers! You CAN make a difference!
Disaster preparedness is an important part of the
American Red Cross program. It is a given fact that the Red Cross cannot take
care of everyone in the event of a disaster. The general population is
encouraged to have enough disaster supplies so they can take care of themselves
and their family for at least 72 hours if a disaster should strike.
The Hancock County Red Cross is available to present
preparedness programs to the general public. We also have several preparedness
pamphlets on tornadoes, floods, heat waves, thunderstorms, disaster kits,
telling your children about disasters, etc. We also have programs and tapes for
children.
If your community or organization would like to know more
about disaster preparedness, please call the Hancock County Red Cross at
(217)357-9079.