When disaster strikes, the Red Cross and Red Crescent are ready to act in a world of intensifying climate crises

10 October 2024, 11:26 | Updated: 10 October 2024, 11:45

• Alexander Pendry is a Global Response Manager for the British Red Cross

By Alexander Pendry

When climate-related or other disasters hit, whether it is hurricanes in Florida, an earthquake in Haiti, or a cyclone in Mozambique, the local Red Cross or Red Crescent National Society is on the ground, supporting affected communities and giving them hope.

Hurricanes are coming harder and faster. More intense hurricanes are striking, and usually the poorest and most vulnerable among us are the hardest hit.

The Red Cross works with communities to act early on the threat of extreme weather events. By using weather forecasts to predict what was previously ‘unpredictable’, we can put action plans in place to be ready when the worst happens.

Less than two weeks after Helene washed away entire communities, more than 2,000 Red Cross staff and volunteers from the American Red Cross are working around the clock to continue supporting families shattered by storms while also preparing for Hurricane Milton's landfall in Florida.

This includes supporting evacuation shelters, which are available to everyone evacuating their homes ahead of the storm.

Our colleagues across the Caribbean have also been working tirelessly during the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June until the end of November.

In July, Hurricane Beryl hit with great ferocity, it was the earliest Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic on record. Red Cross teams were ready when Hurricane Beryl hit their shores, providing shelter, food, water.

They were ready then, and they are ready now.

But these National Societies don’t work alone.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the largest humanitarian network in the world and in the face of a crisis, it’s all hands-on deck. National Societies from across the Red Cross and Red Crescent network pull together, supporting each other where and when expertise is needed.

At the British Red Cross, we’ve been supporting people in crisis for over 150 years, whoever and wherever they are – including those caught up in climate-related emergencies. And these emergencies are on the rise, getting stronger than ever.

We maintain a specialist group of highly trained emergency experts – the Global Surge Team - who can be deployed anywhere in the world at short notice.

This often means responding to the immediate aftermath of emergencies such as hurricanes, earthquakes and typhoons. The team also assists Red Cross and Red Crescent partners before, during and after emergencies, using their specialist skills to overcome specific problems.

However they are needed, the Global Surge Team is always ready, waiting and prepared to respond to wherever the need is greatest.

Despite the preparedness of the British Red Cross, and the wider Movement, we alone cannot change the continuing impact of climate change.

Beryl, Helene and Milton are devastating examples of how extreme weather, caused by rising temperatures, is becoming more frequent and intense.

We need global investment so that every community will be able to prepare for, respond to, and recover from the impacts of the changing climate – but not in five years’, or ten years’, or even fifty years’ time. They need the tools to be able to cope now.

As the climate changes so must we.

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