October 6, 2009

In response to the September heavy rains and floods in central Georgia, 

the American Red Cross opened a shelter at the Cobb County Civic Center.

The partnerships among local, state, and federal agencies, along with volunteers, 

is crucial to the success of helping communities recover after a disaster.

When we talk about a disaster response and recovery effort, 

it���s a long term initiative that really involves many, many parts��� 

it���s not simply FEMA or GEMA��� it���s not one agency, what you see is a partnership 

among the federal, state, local officials, as well as the private sector in some cases, 

and the volunteer community��� probably a third of what is done in terms of a disaster 

recovery effort does fall under the volunteer community, what���s called VOAD��� Red Cross, 

Salvation Army, Georgia Baptist��� organizations like that provide shelter, clean up, 

and any number of services.

The Red Cross is a non-profit agency. We are supported by donated dollars. 

We are also an emergency response organization, we are chartered by congress 

to respond to disasters, so , when disaster happens, Red Cross volunteers swing into action��� 

they provide food, shelter, emotional support, bulk distribution of relief supplies, counseling���

mental health care��� anything clients need immediately following disaster. If a person 

comes to us and they say they need assistance��� we���re going to give them that assistance. 

And for those who have met with Red Cross case workers, we���re going to continue to work with 

them to meet those emergency cause needs��� the flood related needs��� no one with go without 

emergency assistance��� we���re going to make sure they have a roof over their head and that they 

have the resources that they need to get themselves back on their feet, but again, up until the 

closing date, our case workers are going to be working overtime to make sure we connect our clients 

to community resources and governmental resources.

It is a surprisingly well oiled, well unified process. 

All disasters are local, I think it���s always important to explain��� that every disaster 

begins with a response by local officials. If it becomes a situation that exceeds their 

ability to respond to, they can contact GEMA��� and we will provide state assets and resources, 

equipment, personnel, whatever it might be needed to bring that situation under control��� and then, 

of course, we begin to look at the financial impact of this��� and begin to work with FEMA in assessing the damages, 

and then of course if a presidential disaster declaration is approved, we will work together 

in providing those assets and resources until such time that the recovery is completed.