Simulated Emergency Event conducted at the Matt Jimenez Community Center in Hayward.
Photo by Ken Lem/American Red Cross
Simulated Emergency Event conducted at the Matt Jimenez Community Center in Hayward.
Photo by Ken Lem/American Red Cross
The American Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region provides 24-hour emergency assistance to people affected by fires, floods and other disasters.
If you or someone you know has recently experienced a disaster, contact us at 866-272-2237.
Just as 2023 kicked off, a parade of atmospheric rivers swept across California. Bringing unprecedented snow and rainfall, devastating flooding and severe weather with them. The storms continued through early spring; tens of thousands of residents were displaced, homes were damaged or destroyed, and lives were upended. Lower-income and immigrant farm-working communities, such as the town of Pajaro, were hit the hardest. From December through March, more than 1,200 Red Cross disaster workers were on the ground across California shelter, aid, comfort and hope to those in need.
Click below to read through the California Storms Disaster Report to learn how the Red Cross responded when a state more commonly associated with wildfires was inundated by storms.
In the Northern California Coastal Region, Red Cross volunteers respond to a local disaster – most often a house or apartment fire – every 18 hours. Our volunteers are on call 24 hours a day to assist local children and families who have lost their home to a house fire, flood, or other devastation. Children and families left homeless from disasters seek the Red Cross in their time of need. We've found that the majority of people affected by local disasters are children.
They come to us, often with only the clothes on their backs seeking a caring person. In return, our Disaster Action Teams (DAT), made up entirely of volunteers, provide comfort kits for personal hygiene, emergency shelter, food, clothing, and appropriate financial assistance. We also link children and parents to housing assistance, social services, and mental health services to help assist with the devastating loss of their homes, belongings, pets, loved ones, and often their "old lives." In essence, we help them begin anew.
Large disasters that exceed the resources of the local chapter and its volunteers are managed and supported by the American Red Cross at a national level. Hurricanes, major flooding, tornadoes and major earthquakes generally fall into this category. Pre-trained disaster response volunteers from the Northern California Coastal Region may be deployed to assist with these efforts. Volunteer assignments for national responses last for a period of two to three weeks. Volunteers receive training and are assigned according to their specialty areas, which cover all aspects of the operation from logistics and mass care to client services to staffing, public affairs and partner services.
All disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from people in our community.
Interested in becoming a disaster responder? Start the volunteer orientation process today.