Disaster Update
On September 9, a main gas line ruptured and exploded igniting a San Bruno neighborhood, displacing hundreds of residents and causing several injuries and deaths.
The American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter has been assisting the affected residents, providing shelter, food and drinks, crisis counseling and additional assistance to help with their recovery. Over the past few days, the Red Cross has been supporting the families as they return to their homes and helping them to determine their long-term recovery needs. The Red Cross has also been providing crisis counseling and emotional support to all residents, especially those whose homes were damaged or destroyed.
As of September 14, the Red Cross has met with and registered more than 200 families in the local area assistance center. These families are receiving help from the Red Cross to find alternative housing, replace lost items and create long-term recovery plans.
The Red Cross will be dispatching outreach teams consisting of client caseworkers, disaster health workers and disaster mental health workers to meet with and register the remaining affected families on Wednesday. The purpose of these outreach teams will be to determine their needs and provide them with assistance in their recovery.
On Wednesday, the local area assistance center at the Veterans Memorial Recreation Center will close at 6 p.m. No further services will be provided at the location.
On Thursday, the Red Cross will open a service center along with key partners in the new San Bruno Recovery Center, located at 900 Cherry Avenue, Suite 300, San Bruno. The San Bruno Recovery Center will serve as the long-term location for assistance and services for all affected residents of the San Bruno Fire.
The generosity of the Bay Area community and our partners has been overwhelming; as a result the Red Cross has been able to meet the immediate needs of those affected by the San Bruno fire. We are not longer accepting donations designated to San Bruno Fire relief and are now turning our attention towards supporting the affected residents, along with our partners, on their long-term recovery. The reason the Red Cross was able to respond within minutes of the San Bruno Fire igniting is because our community supports us on an ongoing basis through their donations of time and money. We encourage people to continue their support of our local disaster relief efforts by becoming a volunteer or providing a financial donation at http://www.redcrossbayarea.org.
Posted by amrecro 
