Remembering Loma Prieta

This October marks the 20th Anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Often called the San Francisco earthquake, the epicenter of the quake was actually smack in the center of Santa Cruz County. The destruction of the Pacific Garden Mall and many historical landmarks, not to mention the loss of lives was catastrophic to Santa Cruz County.

Kitteh has a smart.

This kitty has it half right.
To be “Preparedness Geek Specific,” kitty should:

DROP to the ground (before the earthquake drops you!),
Take COVER by getting under a sturdy desk or table, and
HOLD ON to it until the shaking stops.

But, we still give the little guy props for covering his head, not running outside, AND for performing [...]

What (else) we do.

When people think about the Red Cross, they generally think of only one thing at a time. Like Blood donations, or disaster relief. But we do SO MUCH MORE than that.

Loma Preita, 20 years later

I wasn’t here in 1989. In fact, I was 2200 miles away from here. I was also far too preoccupied with My Little Ponies to watch the national news or the World Series (I was 8). Hence, I didn’t even know that it had happened. But in October of 1989, this town that I’ve come to call home was shaken to its very core.

Santa Barbara Fire Response: A volunteer’s perspective

One of our volunteers, Mr. Bill Fitler, just got back from working the wildfire relief down in Santa Barbara. Bill is a great volunteer and board member, he goes to almost every disaster and works in leadership roles at the shelters. AND, Bill does all of this with a relative calm. As you can imagine, this is a helpful trait to have during a disaster response.

During his time in Santa Barbara, Bill wrote this entry on his Facebook page. It’s an awesome look into the life of a Red Cross volunteer. Thanks for sharing, Bill!

This is honest to goodness trouble.

When Shirley Temple wasn’t begging for a Zoo Animal for Christmas, or singing about candy or gum drops or some other such thing, she was supporting the American Red Cross!

Wildfire Awareness Week, May 3-9

Did you know that this week is Wildfire Awareness Week? After a rainy start, its hard to imagine that we’re heading straight into another Wildfire season, and that CAL FIRE is already ramping up their training.

98 year old survives Earthquake in Italy

For those of you who have been watching and reading the news coverage of the Earthquake in Italy, you probably need some hopeful news. I saw this on MSNBC this morning. Its always amazing what people can endure.

Earthquake in Italy, Italian Red Cross responds

With more than 100 dead and around 50,000 homeless, today’s earthquake in Italy was a tragedy. The earthquake was about a 6.3 magnitude, and reduced the city ofL’Aquila to rubble.

Europe: Making disaster preparedness classy

what do our European friends have to teach us about disaster preparedness? Plenty.