American Red Cross Chilean Earthquake Response

How You Can Help

For an international response, a monetary gift is the best way to help those in need.  Certain in-kind donations may not be appropriate for cultural, political, economic or administrative reasons. You can help the victims of countless crises around the world each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster, please do so at the time of your donation.

• The American Red Cross is accepting donations specifically for response and recovery in Chile. This includes Chile-designated donations through www.redcross.org, calls to 1-800-REDCROSS, and by texting “CHILE” to 90999. People can also call 1-800-257-7575 to make a donation in Spanish.
• The International Federation of the Red Cross on March 2 made an emergency appeal of $6.4 million to all Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in order to assist the Chilean Red Cross. The American Red Cross is accepting donations in response to this appeal.
• The American Red Cross has committed a total of $500,000 to help the Chilean Red Cross respond to the needs of people.

If I have Chilean family members who are missing in the affected regions what should I do?

• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched a Family Links Website aimed at enabling people in Chile and abroad to register the names of relatives with whom they wish to restore contact. People seeking news from their loved ones can register the name of the missing individuals directly on the site at: http://www.icrc.org/familylinks 

Overall Red Cross / Red Crescent Response in Chile 

• The American Red Cross is providing 5,000 water-carrying cans, following an appeal for relief supplies from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies (IFRC).
• The Chilean Red Cross has activated volunteers who are distributing food, hygiene articles and blankets to survivors. The volunteers are also providing mental health support to the affected people. In addition, the Chilean Red Cross has called upon the local people to donate blood in order to keep up with demand from hospitals.
• A five member regional Red Cross team of disaster experts is in Chile to provide technical support for Chilean Red Cross response activities and to perform damage assessments, emergency relief and communications support.
• The global Red Cross network has issued a response plan that will provide relief supplies, emergency shelter, basic health care, and water and sanitation for 15,000 families for six months.

Why is the American Red Cross response to the Chile earthquake so different – in these first few days – from its response following the Haiti quake?

• The Chilean Red Cross has extensive experience responding to earthquakes and other disasters. They immediately activated their disaster teams following Saturday’s massive earthquake and continue to work in close coordination with the government’s National Emergency Office. Internationally, the American Red Cross provides assistance at the request of the Red Cross in that country. We stand ready to provide additional assistance to the Chilean Red Cross should they need it.
  
• While the devastation from the earthquake in Chile is widespread, the country did not experience the same extent of mass destruction seen in Haiti’s January earthquake which left its densely populated capital, Port-au-Prince, in rubble. Even though the earthquake was more powerful in Chile, much of the infrastructure was built to a higher building standards and the government and civil authorities have a greater capacity to respond.

How can I find additional information on the relief effort in Chile?

• The best way to keep up with the relief effort is to keep an eye on the Online Disaster Newsroom which is updated by the American Red Cross daily.
• You can also become a fan on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for updates.

If you have any additional questions, please contact the Southeast Louisiana Chapter at 504-620-3105.