COM 1526.000 2006-2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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American Red Cross Hawaii State Chapter September 26, 2008 TO: Hawaii County Council Members Council Chair Pete Hoffmann, District 9 Council member Dominic Yagong -District 1 Council member Donald Ikeda, District 2 Council member J. Yoshimoto, District 3 Council member Stacy Higa, District 4 Council member Emily Naeole, District 5 Council member Bob Jacobson, District 6 Council member Brenda Ford, District 7 Council Member Angel Pilagq, District S The Hawaii State Chapter of the American Red Cross requests FY09 discretionary funding of $26,000 from Councilmembers Dominic Yagong, Emily Naeole and Angel Pilago to support Red Cross expenses for operational costs incurred to support the American Red Cross Disaster program. The.American Red Cross is the only organization mandated by Cqngress to respond to disasters and provide emergency communication to military families, and the only local nonprofit organization that meets the needs of disaster victims any time of the day, 365 days a year. All disaster response and training are provided to the public free of charge. The Hawaii Red Cross provides compassionate aid to anyone in Hawaii who falls victim to natural and man-made disasters tc meet their immediate emergency needs and provide physical and emotional support to help victims begin rebuilding their lives after a tragedy. This includes financial assistance for food, clothing, temporary shelter, rent, security deposit and other services to aid families struggling to recover from a disaster. The vast majority of disaster victims live in low to moderate income areas, and since over half of them do not own their homes and have no property insurance, they are truly destitute after a fire destroys their home. During times of disaster, the Hawaii Red Cross is assigned the responsibility of managing shelters by Oounty and State Government. Hawaii County has 34 shelters, most of which are in public schools. Shelters may be opened for severe weather events (e.g. hurricanes); flooding; evacuations due to brush fires, hazardous material spill or terrorist activities; and other situations. In Hawaii, residents and visitors cannot move completely out of the impact area of a storm as they do on the U.S. mainland. Shelters provide a safe place for residents to ride out the storm or event, and also provide for ashort-term residence in the event their homes are damaged or destroyed. Having adequate disaster supplies and trained disaster responders on the Big Island is essential. For a major or catastrophic disaster, it could take days for help to arrive from off-island and even longer if help needs to arrive from out-of-state. It is essential to be prepared before such a disaster occurs. 4155 Diamond Head Road, Honolulu, HI 96816 ph: 734-2101 fax: 735-8626