The Red Cross failed response during National Disasters

"In 2012, two massive storms pounded the United States, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless, hungry or without power for days and weeks.

Americans did what they so often do after disasters. They sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the Red Cross, confident their money would ease the suffering left behind by Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Isaac. They believed the charity was up to the job.

They were wrong.

The Red Cross botched key elements of its mission after Sandy and Isaac, leaving behind a trail of unmet needs and acrimony, according to an investigation by ProPublica and NPR. The charity’s shortcomings were detailed in confidential reports and internal emails, as well as accounts from current and former disaster relief specialists.

What’s more, Red Cross officials at national headquarters in Washington, D.C. compounded the charity’s inability to provide relief by “diverting assets for public relations purposes,” as one internal report puts it. Distribution of relief supplies, the report said, was “politically driven.”

The failed response of the Red Cross and other organizations is one of the reasons I put together the KTD Drive.   That way people would have SOME WAY of helping themselves.

As the Red Cross is more about Public Relations and Fund Raising instead of you know, actually doing their job of helping people after a disaster.

What do I think the problem is?  Too much reliance on large national organizations, and too little reliance on local organizations to the detriment of said local organizations.

Too many places instead of setting up their own policies instead use the Red Cross as a Hail Mary play to come in after the fact.  And put off accountability for their own policies.

In many local communities there is NO disaster relief plan other than "Call the Red Cross"  or "Call F.E.M.A.".

What happened to the local organizations and groups that would look at what was happening and start putting their own assets into motion?

This over reliance on the National Organizations or the Federal Government is a detriment to us all.