Oregonians Head To Hawaii To Help With Volcano Emergency Response

From American Red Cross - Cascades Region: Ten disaster responders from the local American Red Cross in Oregon and Southwest Washington (Cascades Region) are on the ground helping communities affected by evacuations from the Kilauea Volcano eruption.

Responders from Bend, Burns, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Longview, Monmouth, Portland, Salem, Summerville and Wood Village are assisting communities affected by evacuations due to the Kilauea Volcano eruptions by working in disaster relief shelters, providing food and water to evacuees and delivering health and mental health services to those displaced.

KILAUEA VOLCANO ERUPTIONS & EVACUATIONS

Residents on the Big Island in Hawaii continue to deal with various threats more than three weeks after the Kilauea Volcano began erupting.

In addition to ongoing volcanic eruptions, residents are dealing with devastating lava flow, toxic gases and laze, which is made of clouds of toxic gas and steam containing tiny glass particles.

The volcano has destroyed more than 40 structures, including more than 24 homes, and has caused power outages, road closures and brush fires. As many as 2,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and officials say others should be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

RED CROSS RESPONSE

The Red Cross has five shelters open where more than 130 people spent the night on Monday night.

Since the volcanic activity began, trained Red Cross workers have provided more than 3,400 overnight stays in shelters and served nearly 14,000 snacks.

Red Cross health and mental health volunteers are in the shelters and have already provided more than 2,700 services. In addition, the Red Cross is working with the Salvation Army to provide meals.

People are urged to evacuate if told to do so by officials.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please donate to American Red Cross Disaster Relief to help people affected by disasters big and small.

Visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Every single donation brings hope to those in need. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small.

STAY IN TOUCH

People can reconnect with loved ones through both the Red Cross Safe and Well website at redcross.org/safeandwell and by using the “I’m Safe” feature of the Red Cross Emergency App.

The Safe and Well site allows individuals and organizations to register and post messages to indicate that they are safe or to search for loved ones. The site is always free, open to the public and available in English and Spanish.

Registrations and searches can be done directly on the website. Registrations can also be completed by texting SAFE to 78876.

You can download the free Red Cross Emergency App at redcross.org/apps to receive emergency alerts as well as locations of shelters.

Users can also find the app in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross.

About the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families.

The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission.

For more information, please visit redcross.org/Cascades or find us on Facebook at Red Cross Cascades, Twitter at @RedCrossCasc and on Instagram at @RedCrossCascades.

Image via Peter Zurek/Shutterstock