International Services—Providing Humanitarian Relief around the World
In China, a Red Cross worker helps those left homeless by a massive earthquake.
The American Red Cross is one of more than 180 Red Cross and Red Crescent societies based in nations around the world that answer the call for help by alleviating human suffering wherever it is found. We promote cost-effective, community-based programs that target large numbers of people with humanitarian aid that is rapid, effective and large-scale.
In fiscal year 2008, we responded to disasters and emergencies in 45 countries around the world, helping an estimated seven million people.
“I empathized with what people were going through and wanted to do everything I could to make their lives better again.”
—Ramsey Rayyis, Delegate,
American Red Cross , Asia Region |
American Red Cross worker Ramsey Rayyis arrived in China's Chengdu province a week after the country experienced its most devastating earthquake in a generation. Entire villages were uninhabitable and survivors in the countryside were living in front of the rubble that used to be home.
Ramsey helped the Red Cross conduct a rapid assessment of what needed to be done and coordinated response teams to fill urgent needs. Once immediate relief work was underway, he supervised the distribution of tents and helped create sanitary conditions and a safe water supply for tens of thousands of survivors.
Interim warehouses and shelters were set up almost overnight—eventually housing hundreds of thousands of survivors. Continuing aftershocks, flooding and landslides caused repeated calls for evacuation.
"I was glad I could help in any way possible," Ramsey says. "I was injured and my home destroyed during California's Loma Prieta quake in 1989. I know the fear engendered by aftershocks, a business in shambles and the insecurity of sleeping on a friend's front lawn. I empathized with what people were going through and wanted to do everything I could to make their lives better again."
In addition to international disaster relief, we provide education on international humanitarian law and conduct family tracing programs to locate loved ones missing due to war, natural disaster or civil unrest. We work to meet the challenges of measles, malaria and HIV/AIDS. Since 2000, our global partnership has led to the vaccination of more than 600 million children worldwide, resulting in a 74 percent decline in measles deaths globally.
Donations to the American Red Cross International Response Fund provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and more.
