Policies, Programs, And Problems Of The Local Red Cross Disaster Relief In The 1960s
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Date
1970
Authors
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Publisher
Disaster Research Center
Abstract
Description
In a disaster of any magnitude that occurs in American society, the
Red Cross is certain to be present. Much of the mass care which is necessary during such emergencies becomes the responsibility of the Red Cross. Too,
unlike other emergency organizations, the Red Cross has continuing responsibilities in the rehabilitation phase. Because of such extensive involvement
in disaster activities, only a limited aspect of this involvement can be considered
here. The concern here is to depict the operations of this organization
during the emergency period -- the nature of the problems it encounters
and the possible organizational sources of the difficulties it may have in
carrying out it activities. In this sense, the report is problem oriented rather than concentrating on achievements.
While the focus of the report will be on the local chapter of the Red
Cross in its disaster activities, these local activities have to be seen in
the context of their relationship to national level policy and to Red Cross personnel based outside the community. Consequently, after a brief discussion
of the data upon which this report is based, attention will be given to the
general structure of the Red Cross. In the second chapter, the disaster
orientation of the Red Cross is outlined, particularly as this orientation is
revealed in the emergency demands which the organization accepts as legitimate.
The bulk of this second chapter, therefore, concerns the tasks which members
of the Red Cross perform in disaster.
Subsequent chapters will consider the Red Gross mobilization of personnel
and supplies to perform these tasks in emergencies (chapter three) and certain
problems which occur within the organization as a result of this mobilization
(chapter four). One of the consequences of mobilization is, of course, the
sudden convergence of national personnel and local volunteers on the Red Cross.
Chapter four will deal, then, with the intraorganizational consequences of
these dual structures of the Red Cross in disaster operations. Chapter five
will consider interorganizational relationships in these operations.
Keywords
Red Cross, Interorganizational Relationships, Natural Disaster