The American Red Cross is expanding its international disaster preparedness efforts by working with communities to help them understand their risks and take preventative actions. This includes identifying early warning systems, developing evacuation plans, and implementing projects to reduce risks such as building flood barriers or planting trees. The Red Cross aims to make communities more resilient to disasters by improving preparedness and helping people learn how to better cope with adverse events.

1. Disaster Preparedness

More than 200 million people are affected by disasters each year. Protect yourself, your family and your community
and our world by taking steps to be prepared.
The American Red Cross is expanding support for international disaster preparedness and risk reduction programs
by:
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 Working with communities to better understand the risks they face
 Identifying cost-effective early warning systems to better predict and react to threats
 Developing community action plans such as evacuation routes and emergency shelters
Where possible, your support also helps the Red Cross identify projects that reduce disaster risks and damage, such
as planting trees, building flood embankments, improving drainage systems or building hazard-resistant houses.
Disaster Preparedness
Preparing for Recurrent Emergencies
Global trends such as rapid population
growth, unplanned urbanization, environmental
degradation and climate change have
caused an increase in the frequency, severity
and impact of natural disasters. Already vulnerable
communities, especially in the poorest
countries of the world, are at greater risk of
losing family members, homes and livelihoods.
With activities spanning more than 30 countries,

2. the American Red Cross has more than
tripled our preparedness efforts in the past
six years. We work with community members
to help them better understand the actions
they can take, both individually and collectively, to reduce
disaster risk that not only saves lives but also decreases
the costs associated with post-disaster recovery.
Building Stronger, More Resilient Communities
A resilient community is one that possesses the physical,
psychological, social and economic capacity to withstand,
quickly adapt to, and successfully recover from a disaster.
The American Red Cross is committed to helping communities
around the world become more resilient by investing
in preparedness and capacity building so that people can
better cope with adverse events. Typical preparedness
activities include working with community members to
better understand the risks they face; developing community
action plans which highlight evacuation routes and
the location of emergency shelters; and identifying costeffective
early warning systems to better predict and react
to threats.
Where possible, the American Red Cross supports proactive
projects that reduce disaster risks, such as planting
trees to prevent soil erosion, building flood embankments,
improving drainage systems and constructing hazardresistant
homes.
Ensuring the Red Cross is
Ready to Respond
The American Red Cross and its
global Red Cross and Red Crescent
network partners are working
to increase the resilience of
communities that are at high-risk
to disasters such as hurricanes,
earthquakes, or floods, and health
emergencies such as epidemics
and disease outbreaks. We work
hard to ensure that urgent relief is
delivered at the scene of devastating
disasters, and that our teams
have the skills and equipment necessary to effectively
assist and guide the disaster response.
We invest resources in strategically pre-positioning relief
items for rapid deployment, providing disaster management
trainings to form and maintain a roster of skilled
disaster responders, and building technical expertise to
better identify risks and predict events. We also develop
the capacity of our partners’ to prepare for and respond to
disasters through trainings, financial and material resources,
and technical support.
Launching a Global Disaster Preparedness Center

3. In 2012, the American Red Cross and International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched
a center dedicated to improving disaster preparedness
globally. The Global Disater Preparedness Center is both
a resource center and a think tank that promotes innovation
in disaster preparedness and supports learning and
knowledge sharing amongst disaster preparedness practitioners
worldwide. For more information about the center,
please visit www.preparecenter.org.