British Red Cross Launch Volunteer Search

Six out of ten people in the North-West would not know what to do if disaster struck in their area.

That is according to a new report published by the British Red Cross and Aviva:

https://www.aviva.co.uk/

The charity say that 2017 was one of its busiest years since World War Two as they assisted 9,265 people in more than 1,500 emergencies across the UK.

'When Crisis Hits: mobilising kindness in our communities' says that in the North-West 84% of people would want to get involved if there was an emergency, yet 60% of those would not know what to do. 

One in five (19%) of people in our region have witnessed a large-scale emergency like a fire or a flood.

The British Red Cross are now calling on people in our region to sign up as a community reserve volunteer. 

No special skills are required and it means people would be called if crisis strikes in their area. They would be sent a text message if needed. 

The charity respond to an emergency every four hours in the UK to incidents including extreme weather and even acts of terror.

Simon Lewis, Head of Crisis Response at the British Red Cross, said: “The British RedCross responds to a UK emergency every four hours.

“Last year we faced a huge number of major emergencies like those in London and Manchester. They brought tragedy to so many people, but we witnessed remarkable acts of kindness and saw that people really want to give practical help when crisis hits.

“The findings of our report with Aviva show that despite this desire to help, people often don’t know how best to assist or worry they don’t have the right skills to get involved. 

“By creating a national taskforce of community reserve volunteers we want to put local people at the heart of emergency response, to help communities rebuild and recover faster.

“Everyone has a role to play when disaster strikes, even the smallest act of kindness can make a huge difference. It’s quick and easy to sign up online community reserve volunteers, you don’t need specialist skills and we need your help now more than ever.” 

 You can sign up to become a volunteer by visiting the British Red Cross website.