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Show SPEED RELIEF TO FLOOD VICTIMS . Advance Organization of Rescue Agencies Cuts Death Toll in Nation's Record Tragedy of Human Suffering. it 'r, Z i v v - The rampaging Ohio river, sweeping to the highest flood stage in all history, forced th larger part of the population of the city of Louisville, 'I s'-- h ' I Ky. (shown above), to evacuate their homes. Relief agencies are doing I j jCs, ,-t heroic work. Inset: Typical of the homeless are this mother and child ' , ff , jf of Evansville, Ind., hard hit by floods. fTjk H V8- " " ' By WILLIAM C UTL1Y i i-&t?iiiii$Mfttiiifc BEFORE us is the dreadful spectacle of the worst flood America has ever known. Drunk from the effects of unseasonal rains and mid-winter thaws, streams once peaceful and useful have broken all bounds, spilling, careening over once-fertile farm lands, ravishing whole towns and cities, leaving in their wake despair and destruc tion. Before the rampant monsters citizens cit-izens by the hundreds of thousands flee their homes, stripped of any but a few personal belongings, their lives' work and savings often cruelly obliterated overnight. Mothers Moth-ers are separated from their children, chil-dren, wives from their husbands. Thousands even less fortunate have been marooned, praying that rescue will arrive before it is too late. Millions more sit in fearful waiting, hoping against hope that the raging terror will be quieted before it canreach them. On the crest of the churning water? wat-er? ride the Four Horsemen of Death, Famine, Pestilence and War. Yes, even war, for martial law exists ex-ists in the face of the invading energy, en-ergy, and where the disaster is at its worst there are orders to "shoot to kill" those who break the rules. With transportation stricken, utilities util-ities crippled and supplies shrunken, thousands are hungry and thirsty. Typhoid, meningitis and pneumonia pneumo-nia threaten the health of entire cities. cit-ies. Some are dead and some are dying. Relief Work Speeds. Considering the magnitude of the catastrophe the death list is surprisingly sur-prisingly small. This is due almost entirely to the speed and efficiency with which the rescue and relief agencies work. Always one of the first and foremost fore-most of these agencies in a disaster is the Red Cross. Its chairman, Admiral Cary T. Grayson, has estimated esti-mated that probably a million or more persons will have been cared for by the Red Cross alone in the present disaster. The volunteer membership of 4,-200,000, 4,-200,000, plus 8,000,000 junior workers, work-ers, includes at least one chapter in every county. Practically every chapter has its standing committee on disaster preparedness and relief, headed by a chairman who is one of the outstanding leaders of the community, recognized for his managerial man-agerial ability. To this committee are subordinated several others which are trained to quickly provide pro-vide food, clothing, shelter and medical med-ical aid during an emergency. When their work is done the vast task which often remains is taken over by a sub-committee on rehabilitation, rehabilita-tion, which makes awards to families fam-ilies affected by the disaster. Meetings of these committees are held at least twice a year. In them every type of disaster hazard which might threaten the community is carefully studied; plans are laid to be followed if the disaster occurs, and committee members are thoroughly thor-oughly trained in the duties that will fall to them in that case. Members of other chapters which have successfully battled with disasters dis-asters are invited to come and tell j their experiences. The chapter .chairman presents hypothetical problems of disaster relief to be ' solved epidemics, rebuilding after a tornado, fire and flood and each ! sub-committee is required to show how its part would be played. Life-Saving First Objective. First in the field when disaster : strikes is the sub-committee on I survey the "eyes" of the Red Cross. Members are usually architects, archi-tects, mechanical and civil engineers, engin-eers, contractors and builders, real lestate men and public health officers. offi-cers. Before En emergency occurs they are supposed to have studied jail places where trouble might start. Their first job in disaster is to estimate the number of dead, 'injured (estimating the number I l v needing hospital attention), homeless, home-less, homes destroyed, homes damaged dam-aged and families suffering losses. Saving of hurass life is always the first consideration, so the rescue sub-committee goes immediately to work. In a flood the big job is to get marooned victims to dry and safe spots, to bring the sick and injured to medical posts, to save property if it is properly identified and to perform other acts which will reduce the possibility of further loss. Real courage, strength, health and a knowledge of first aid are prerequisites pre-requisites for members nf this subcommittee. sub-committee. Doctors, dentists, nurses and family fam-ily case workers serve without charge on the sub-committee for medical aid. They immediately secure se-cure and make ready whatever hospital hos-pital facilities are available locally, and set up emergency hospitals if they are necessary. When flood sufferers are rescued from danger spots, the crews usually usual-ly know where to take them. This is because the sub-committee on shelter has made periodic canvasses of the area for empty houses, public buildings such as churches and schools, and automobile camps, where disaster refugees can be kept temporarily from the elements. Temporary buildings are constructed construct-ed if the load makes them necessary. neces-sary. Hotel managers, wholesale grocers, gro-cers, managers of chain food stores, restaurant operators and army or navy men usually make up the sub-committee on food. They know in advance the types of food supplies sup-plies each merchant deals in, how much of a stock he keeps on hand and how these supplies can be made available to the Red Cross quickly in time of disaster. Communication Is Vital. Tremendously important in time of flood is the work of the sub-committee on transportation and communication. com-munication. Headed by local leaders lead-ers of the transportation and radio industries, this committee must keep the avenues open for the work of all the others. It must have a good working knowledge of all the facilities facili-ties in the community before and after a disaster occurs. It must provide pro-vide automobiles, trucks, boats, cars anything that may be used to transport sufferers from the flood area, or to bring in food from the outside world. Often the most difficult task faces the Red Cross after the emergency has passed, and it is a function with which comparatively few are familiar. Think what has happened. Inhabitants of the stricken area have bought their homes or furniture. furni-ture. They may have a little car. Perhaps their livelihood comes from a small business or a farm. In almost al-most no time stark tragedy leaves them with nothing at all. They can't produce a living. They have no place to live. They probably have no money, mon-ey, or at least too little to do them any real good. Life doesn't seem worth living. Now it is time for the sub-committee on rehabilitation to begin. Hundreds of volunteer workers set about listing the families needing help, the losses they sustained and what possible help it will be necessary neces-sary for the Red Cross to give them. Awards are made on the basis of actual need, without relation to the extent of loss. A family which has lost many times as heavily as another an-other may still have some reserve or credit which it can use without undue hardship. A family which has lost but little may yet have lost everything it possessed. Of course no attempt is made to relieve any such suffering caused by circumstances circum-stances other than the disaster itself. Living Standards Maintained. Widows with children may have to be resettled in completely rebuilt homes and new furnishings given them. Farms whose usefulness has been destroyed through the deposits of silt must be restored that their owners may once more earn a living. liv-ing. Small shops must be rebuilt or restocked to enable their operators to make a living again. A few instances, picked at random, ran-dom, of what this Red Cross aid has meant in the past will serve to illustrate. il-lustrate. In a New England town a mill worker and his wife had finished paying for their little home. When the mill shut down in 1935, their small savings were carrying them along temporarily. The flood came. Police forced them to evacuate. They returned some time later to find their home washed away completely. com-pletely. The Red Cross traded their lot for another in a safer location, built them a new home and furnished fur-nished it. City relief officials found the man a job. Happiness, seemingly seem-ingly denied them forever, had been restored. In Pennsylvania in 1918 a fruit farmer and his wife made a modest living, owned their home. The man's health failed, so his son and daughter-in-law moved in to run the farm, succeeding in making a bare living for the family. On the day of the "second" Johnstown flood the son went to the rescue of a neighboring neigh-boring family in distress. He was drowned. Their own farm was ruined. The case looked hopeless. Hopeless? Red Cross workers helped with the funeral, found new clothing, made the house livable again. They soon repaired it well and make it possible for the family to buy new furnishings. Plans were made to care for the remainder of the family until the young wife was eligible for a widow's pension. Need for Funds Urgent. Two years ago a young man with an arrested case of tuberculosis set up in a small farming project which provided a living for his family but did not tax his strength. In last year's flood his farm was left covered cov-ered with silt; buildings, stock and poultry were carried away. His health was about to be threatened by worry and over-exertion; he had nothing on which to make a new start, anyway. His buildings were repaired and a cow and chickens purchased for him. His farm production pro-duction is back to normal and he is no longer discouraged. These are some of the permanent improvements that are directly attributable at-tributable to the Red Cross. Of course, it costs a lot of money. In reviewing the various branches of the society which must gird for any emergency one has been left out. This is the sub-committee on fund-raising fund-raising and public information. This is the most important work of all, especially in the present disaster. "Flood suffering has reached unprecedented un-precedented proportions with relief n-.eds mounting," Admiral Grayson explains. "The only limit must be the maximum geneiosity of the American people. "The Red Jross considers the flood in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys the greatest national emergency emer-gency the nation and the Red Cross have faced since the World war. It exceeds that existing in the Mississippi valley floods of 1927, when the Red Cross gave help to C25.0J1 persons." Western NesoaDei Union. |