Every year, 70,000 volunteers offer their time and talents to help the American Red Cross respond to disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires or other situations that cause human suffering. Join their ranks today! Volunteer! For more information on how to become a volunteer, visit our Disaster Training page.

A Red Cross disaster response focuses on meeting people's immediate emergency disaster-caused needs. When a disaster threatens or strikes, the Red Cross provides shelter, food, and health and mental health services to address basic human needs.

Disaster Action Team

Disaster Action Team (DAT) members are volunteers who provide immediate emergency services to those affected by a disaster. Typically, a disaster is a fire in a single family home, but the DAT also respond to large-scale disasters such as floods and tornadoes. In addition to distributing blankets, clothing, toiletries and other necessary items to people who have experienced a fire, our volunteers help people find a place to stay and food to eat. Our DAT responded to more than 450 emergencies last year. If you would like to join our volunteer family, contact us today!

Disaster Health Services

In times of disaster, Red Cross provides urgent and preventive health services to disaster victims and workers at Red Cross service delivery facilities or other setting where requested.

Disaster Mental Health Services

Disaster Mental Health Service workers provide brief counseling to disaster victims and other workers. Disaster Mental Health Services staff are all mental health professionals who provide intervention during a time of disaster and direct long term needs to local mental health providers.

Disaster Welfare Information

Through Disaster Welfare Information, Red Cross provides a means of establishing contact between disaster victims and their family members. This service is provided when disaster-caused displacement of people or disruption of normal communication channels precludes direct communication.

Casework Services

Red Cross provides disaster assistance to individuals or families on a case-by-case basis.

Mass Care

Mass Care provides direct services such as sheltering, feeding and distribution of essential personal items to victims of a disaster. Mass Care works with large numbers of people simultaneously until other individual arrangements can be made