Rising disasters empties Red Cross coffers
Pastor Dale Morgan
Rising disasters empties Red Cross coffers*
WASHINGTON, June 17 (AFP) Jun 18, 2008
A string of recent weather-related calamities across the United States
has left the American Red Cross low on cash and struggling to provide
aid to disaster victims, officials from the premier US charity group
said Tuesday.
"Our disaster relief fund is empty, but there's a lot of need out there
and the Red Cross is responding," Suzy De Francis, the chief public
affairs officer for the American Red Cross, told AFP.
More than 11 million people in nine midwestern states have been affected
by extreme weather and the worst flooding in living memory in recent
weeks, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has said.
The Red Cross has responded to tornadoes in Kansas, and floods in Iowa,
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana and West Virginia in recent weeks.
"We are currently responding to 30 large-scale disasters across the
country, and that has required us to borrow funds to continue to
respond," said De Francis, who estimates that the charity will need as
much as 20 million dollars to meet the needs of current disaster victims.
Recent weeks have seen an unusually violent tornado season across the
central United States, as well as drenching rains that have caused epic
flooding throughout the US Midwest.
De Francis noted that the dreaded wildfire and hurricane seasons also
are "about to go into full swing" in parts of the United States.
In 2005, the American Red Cross borrowed more than 400 million dollars
to meet the needs of victims of Hurricane Katrina, but more than
recouped its loan in the months that followed, when donations in excess
of two billion dollars poured in the organization.
But some of the recent disasters are less visible, and bring in fewer
monetary donations, said De Francis, who said such calamaties "cost
money but don't raise a lot of money."
"People give more when there's a major disaster such as hurricane
Katrina because they see it on TV -- they see the people who are hurting
and they open their hearts and their wallets," she said, explaining why
emergency relief coffers are bare.
De Francis said tough economic times also have cramped the generosity of
individual Americans, who make up the bulk of Red Cross donors.
"When you have a difficult economic situation ... people have less
disposable income, and they tend to cut back on their charitable
donations," she said.