Red Cross Blogs

A year of responding to crises at home and abroad

By Katrina Crew
December 30, 2010 at 2:00 pm

As 2010 draws to a close, we’d like to show all our friends, fans, donors, supporters and partners how you’ve helped us make a difference this year.

While 2010 was full of high-profile disasters, our volunteers and staff helped people every day with a wide array of personal crises.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest crises you helped us respond to this year.

January – The Big Freeze

Britain entered the new year covered in a blanket of snow. As the biggest snowfall for decades disrupted travel, schools and communication networks, our volunteers jumped in their vehicles and worked round the clock. Emergency response volunteers supported ambulance services, helped district nurses reach urgent cases, and provided people with blankets and food after power cuts.  Care in the home volunteers visited hundreds of vulnerable people to check their welfare.  And, when there was a massive increase in winter injuries, our medical equipment services were kept busy loaning out wheelchairs and other mobility equipment.

January – Haiti earthquake

The devastating Haiti earthquake on 12 January led to the largest single-country response in Red Cross history. Around 230,000 people died and more than a million were left homeless. We immediately launched an appeal for funds, and the public generously donated, helping us deliver food, hundreds of thousands of tents and tarpaulins, millions of litres of clean water, thousands of cooking sets, and vital medical aid to those who needed it.

Almost one year on, we’re still providing help with sanitation, shelter and livelihoods as Haitian people look to rebuild their lives.

February – first aid for people with disabilities

In February we reported on our three-year project to deliver specially-adapted first aid training for people with disabilities. From September 2006, around 6,000 people took part in one of our inclusive first aid courses. We announced that the programme would continue, getting a big thumbs up from former England and Newcastle United football player Alan Shearer, who said: “It’s easy to assume that because someone is physically disabled or has learning difficulties that they can’t learn first aid, however this just isn’t the case. This fantastic British Red Cross initiative has proved that, with the right training, people with disabilities are more than able to learn the skills to save a life.”

February – Chile earthquake

On 27 February, an earthquake measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale hit Chile. We released £50,000 from our Disaster Fund to help the Chilean Red Cross respond. We also launched an appeal to raise money.

March – highlighting tuberculosis worldwide

On World TB Day (24 March) we highlighted our TB programmes in Central Asia and Africa, where we’re combating stigma and helping people get the treatment they need.

TB is a curable disease but still kills around two million people a year.

April – volcanic ash leads to travel disruption

When planes were grounded across Europe, we sent two psychosocial support teams to Calais and Madrid to provide practical help and emotional support to Britons trying to return home.

May – the Big Red Cross Bus

We toured the UK with the world’s first all-in-one mobile charity shop and volunteering centre. For two weeks, starting on 31 May, over 2,000 people shopped on our bus and 200 people signed up to volunteer with us.

June – highlighting destitution of refugees and asylum seekers

A British Red Cross poll showed that one-in-four British people still believe asylum seekers come to Britain to claim benefits. The survey results were published ahead of Refugee Week, an annual UK-wide programme of arts, cultural and educational events celebrating refugees’ contribution to the UK.

We also launched a report highlighting the dire hardships facing destitute asylum seekers and the urgent need for a more humane asylum system. The report – Not gone, but forgotten – showed that many refused asylum seekers survive on only one meal a day, are unable to work, are homeless, and rely on charities like the Red Cross to survive.

July – Kyrgyzstan unrest

When ethnic violence broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan, we released £100,000 from our Disaster Fund to help the International Committee of the Red Cross scale up their humanitarian operation, providing healthcare, emergency relief items and forensic experts. An estimated 100,000 people – mostly women and children – fled to neighbouring Uzbekistan.

July/August – Pakistan floods

An estimated 20 million people were affected by Pakistan’s worst flooding for 80 years. The floods killed more than 1,700 people and destroyed crops, farms and food, leaving people facing months of hunger.

We sent teams of logistics and sanitation specialists to organise relief items, provide clean toilets and water, and deliver hygiene education to reduce people’s risk of disease.

After we carried out a survey that showed young people feel ill-equipped to deal with the emergencies they’ve faced, we launched the Life. Live it. campaign encouraging them to learn first aid. One way the campaign is engaging with teens is through giving away money-can’t-buy experiences. The first took place last week, when young football fans attended training sessions with Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United players.

October – recognising young heroes

We held the fifth annual Humanitarian Citizen Award ceremony, which celebrates the extraordinary achievements of young people from across Britain. The overall winner was 15-year-old Cameron Foster from Wigan, who has done countless sponsored runs, walks and abseils to raise thousands of pounds for specialist sports equipment for disabled people.

November – first anniversary of the Cumbria floods

Although many people have moved back into their homes and are rebuilding their lives, the voluntary sector is still providing a wide range of help. Our volunteers have been a consistent and much-needed source of support in Cumbria, making more than 835 visits and 2,200 phone calls to check on people’s welfare. 

December – It’s snowing again

We’re closing out the year the way we began it – by helping people struggling with heavy snowfalls, ice, and burst water pipes. We released money from our Disaster Fund to help the snow response in northern Scotland. Our volunteers have been out supporting the emergency services across the UK – from transporting people to and from hospital, to delivering medication to homebound people. And our volunteers in Northern Ireland have been delivering water to people after leaking pipes have left 40,000 people without a water supply.

Want to help your community, whatever happens in 2011? Find out about volunteering with us.

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Tags: disaster, disaster response, earthquake, emergency response, First aid, Haiti earthquake, International, logistics, Pakistan, volunteer, water and sanitation, young people

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This entry was posted on Thursday, December 30th, 2010 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Emergencies, International, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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