Red Cross opens donations for hurricane Irma
‘It’s such a huge scale and I think that it affects everybody here’
The Canadian Red Cross has started asking Cape Bretoners for donations for the victims of hurricane Irma, the category five hurricane that has left a wake of destruction in the Caribbean.
The Red Cross is providing emergency assistance as Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes on record, continues its pulverizing path through the eastern Caribbean.
Jason Noseworthy, disaster management associate with the Sydney office of the Red Cross, said that donating money is the best way to help the victims during the early stages of the hurricane.
“Where it’s early — and we just had the donations open today (Thursday) — mostly from this area it would be monetary resources and that’s the best thing that can happen. People are going to need money more than anything else. “After this storm is finished and all of the devastation is left behind, the military will throw resources, the Haitian government will come together with resources but what they are, we’re not 100 per cent sure at this stage.”
It’s estimated that more than 31,000,000 people will be impacted along Irma’s path through the Caribbean and then into Florida by noon on Saturday.
Linda King, the service centre co-ordinator with the local Red Cross office, said that Cape Bretoners can connect with the tragedies of hurricane Irma because of their own troubles of going through storms, although Irma is much worse.
“I think looking at the biggest hurricanes we’ve had in this area and the devastation is so minor compared to what they’re looking at, but you become in tuned,” said King “It’s such a huge scale and I think that it affects everybody here.”
King added that at this point of the emergency that Irma has created, monetary donations are the best way to make a difference, although Red Cross volunteers in Cape Breton and the world are working diligently to provide aid for the areas that have been hit by the category five hurricane.
The Canadian Red Cross has a presence in the area, including ongoing support to Haiti. The organization is also a contributor to an International Red Cross stockpile of humanitarian aid items, warehoused in Panama to be within easy flight reach of countries throughout the Caribbean and Central America.
It’s also now co-ordinating with the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) which supports the mobilization of regional Red Cross teams.
As of Thursday evening, hurricane Irma has left 11 people dead and thousands homeless as it tears through Caribbean islands.
The hurricane is predicted to draw closer to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Turks and Caicos and parts of the Bahamas by Thursday night and onto Cuba by Friday night.
To donate to the Red Cross, call 902-564-4114 or 1-800418-1111. You can also donate online by visiting www.redcross.ca or in person by going to the Red Cross office in Sydney at 1140 Upper Prince Street.