American Red Cross International Services

May 15, 2008

Preparing Communities for Climate Change by Expanding Support for

International Disaster Risk Reduction

As climate change heightens our world’s vulnerability to natural hazards, the work of the
American Red Cross in helping communities at home and abroad prepare for and respond to
disasters becomes even more urgent. While experts work to address the causes of climate
change, the American Red Cross has expanded its efforts to help communities reduce their
vulnerability to its impacts, including new or intensified weather-related risks.

Governments and scientists agree that climate change is resulting in more intense and frequent
weather events and erratic weather patterns. The increasing number of disasters—such as severe
floods, droughts, typhoons, hurricanes and heat waves—is complicating the ability of
communities to anticipate and recover from them.1

Not surprisingly, the world’s poor are disproportionately vulnerable to the adverse impacts of
climate change, with fewer resources to prepare for or recuperate from weather-related disasters.2
They are also increasingly likely to live in hazard-prone locations, such as makeshift houses on
unstable hillsides or flood plains.

Climate change has not only resulted in a rising number of natural hazards, but also produced
stresses on water supplies, agricultural production and ecosystems.3 Communities are
increasingly competing for scarce resources, creating additional tensions and the potential for
conflict. Taken together, the effects of climate change erode people’s traditional safety nets and
diminish the ability of households to survive and recover from disasters.

The American Red Cross is intensifying and expanding its support for international disaster risk
reduction programs through Red Cross and Red Crescent partners. The International Services
department of the American Red Cross aims to strengthen household resiliency and build the
capacity of communities around the world to better anticipate, mitigate, prepare for and respond
to disasters.

Examples of American Red Cross international disaster risk reduction programs include the
following:

1
Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (2007). The IPCC report reflects
consensus among governments and scientists, including the U.S. Government.
2
IPCC 2007 Working Group II, Summary for Policymakers.
3
United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre
The Red Cross/Red Crescent Centre on Climate Change and Disaster Preparedness (Climate
Centre), located in The Hague, Netherlands, is a forum for dialogue and creative thinking within
humanitarian and development circles. Support from the American Red Cross has helped the
Climate Centre to conduct research, disseminate information, strengthen support networks and
facilitate communication among stakeholders, as well as develop guidance for practical
programming. For example, the Climate Centre has supported the Indonesian Red Cross Society
in preparing communities to better understand and adapt to a wet season that will probably get
wetter; a dry season that is likely to become drier; and extreme weather events such as floods and
droughts that are expected to multiply.

Community-Based Early Warning Systems

Many communities around the world have difficulty accessing, translating, and acting upon
technical information—such as global information system data—that would give people more
time to get out of harm’s way. To overcome this challenge, the American Red Cross is working to
build and replicate low-cost but high-impact community-level early warning systems. For
example, with help from the American Red Cross, the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society quickly
deployed nearly 40,000 volunteers with bicycles and blow horns to warn thousands of people to
evacuate prior to Cyclone Sidr in November 2007.

First Responder Training Programs

Through its international programs, the American Red Cross invests in community-based
training, such as first aid and rapid relief. This training helps to equip first responders with skills
to identify hazards and vulnerabilities and to assess the effectiveness of local capacities for
disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. Programs emphasize the training-of-trainers to
build lasting local response capacities and have greater reach.

Disaster Preparedness Education Materials

Drawing on its successful experience in integrating disaster preparedness into U.S.-based
education curricula, the American Red Cross is replicating and adapting educational materials,
such as the Masters of Disasters toolkit, for Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in other
countries.

International Disaster Response Capacity

The American Red Cross is building its programs and institutional capacities to respond to an
increasing number of small- and medium-sized international disasters, while at the same time
adequately preparing for large-scale disasters such as the Asian Tsunami of December 2004. The
American Red Cross is expanding its roster of highly-skilled professionals, who are available for
deployment on international disaster response teams. It is also expanding and improving its
training courses on the work of its Relief Emergency Response Unit and a new IT &
Telecommunications Emergency Response Unit.

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This holistic approach to international disaster risk reduction requires an understanding of the
impacts of climate change. Through increased partnerships and ongoing investments, the
American Red Cross will expand its efforts to reduce the risks that communities face from
increasing weather-related disasters worldwide.