Date: 2-14-01
EXPLORATIONS #1939 - Red Cross
By Jerilyn WatsonVOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program, EXPLORATIONS. Today, we report on the work of the Red Cross. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies helps victims of wars and terrible natural events around the world.
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VOICE ONE:
On January Twenty-Sixth, a severe earthquake shook the western Indian state of Gujarat. Estimates are that as many as thirty-five-thousand people may have died in the quake. Many more suffered severe injuries.
The earthquake destroyed all three hospitals in the city of Bhuj. Within a short time, the Red Cross had established an emergency hospital in Bhuj. The hospital has four-hundred beds and several areas for surgical operations. It also has a center for the wounded who do not need to stay in the hospital.
Before the hospital opened, the injured and the sick had to be taken to larger cities in Gujarat. Or, doctors and nurses treated survivors on the streets.
VOICE TWO:
Red Cross workers from Norway and Finland treated their first patients within forty-eight hours of arriving. Today, Indian, Norwegian and Finnish doctors and nurses work together in the tent-covered hospital. It will be open as long as needed. The Japanese Red Cross is operating a similar hospital in Sukhpur, not far from Bhuj.
VOICE ONE:
In Mindanao, the Philippines, Red Cross programs recently provided food and other supplies to fourteen-thousand people. The supplies are part of a project to aid about seventy-thousand displaced Fillipinos. They were forced to flee their homes because of fighting last summer between the armed forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
In Africa, the Red Cross movement is working with the armed forces of Niger to increase knowledge about international humanitarian law. Ninety officers attended training last month. Soldiers from three military areas will receive information describing laws about humanitarian actions in wartime.
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VOICE TWO:
People throughout the world welcome the flags and signs of the Red Cross movement in times of war and natural disasters. The Red Cross flag shows two red lines crossing in the middle against a white background. The Red Crescent serves mainly Muslim countries. Its flag shows a red crescent. In Iran, the flag shows a lion and the sun.
These organizations provide free temporary shelter, food, clothes and medicine to people who have lost their homes. The agencies help people rebuild their lives after wars. They serve victims of earthquakes, floods, landslides, wind and ocean storms and other natural disasters.
VOICE ONE:
A coalition makes possible the work of the Red Cross movement. The movement has an international committee and an international conference. It has one-hundred-seventy-six national aid societies. The societies belong to a co-operative organization called the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
One such national organization is the American Red Cross. Money given by American citizens is the main support of this private organization. Most of its work is done by people who offer their services without pay. The American Red Cross trains almost twelve million people in life-saving skills. It provides health care for two-and-one-half million people.
VOICE TWO:
The American Red Cross carries out many activities in the United States. It is the largest supplier of blood, blood products and tissue products in the nation. It has re-united survivors of Nazi prison camps with relatives after more than a half-century. It has taught millions of people to swim.
The swimming students are among millions of Americans who learned safety and health measures in Red Cross classes last year. The American Red Cross also helps people serving in the armed services communicate with their families. Thousands of families each year receive emergency information about a serviceman or woman in faraway places.
VOICE ONE:
The American Red Cross sends help to thousands of small and large disaster areas in the United States each year. For example, a severe ice and snow storm recently struck the southwest state of Texas. Power lines fell. Houses were cold and dark. Many people lacked food and water. The Red Cross sheltered and fed more than two-thousand people until they could return home.
The American Red Cross also sends workers to major disasters around the world.
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VOICE TWO:
Bernadine Healy was chosen to head the American Red Cross in Nineteen-Ninety-Nine. She is the first medical doctor to serve as president and chief executive officer of the American organization. Earlier, she directed the powerful government health-policy agency, the National Institutes of Health.
Doctor Healy has won praise for helping the American Red Cross get more money. She also has had to defend and change how the agency gets its supplies of blood. The Red Cross provides about half of America's blood supply needed in hospitals.
VOICE ONE:
Recently the Federal Food and Drug Administration accused the American Red Cross of safety problems with its blood collection. It said this could lead to a spread of disease. Doctor Healy says the Red Cross has closed one blood-processing center and is working to improve thirty-six others. But she also says the Red Cross blood supply is the safest in the world.
Last month (January), the Red Cross asked the Food and Drug Administration to consider approving new rules about who can give blood. However, more restrictions will further reduce the blood supply. Efforts to protect Americans from what is known as Mad Cow Disease have already decreased the blood supply in the United States by more than two percent.
VOICE TWO:
The national Red Cross organizations cooperate through the headquarters of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Its headquarters is in Geneva Switzerland.
The International Committee of the Red Cross also has headquarters in Geneva. This group acts as a neutral negotiator among warring nations to protect human rights. It tries to guarantee that the Geneva Conventions are obeyed. These international rules provide for humane treatment of soldiers and civilians. For example, prisoners of war may not be tortured to get military information from them. And, poison gas is banned as a weapon.
The International Red Cross Conference is the governing organization of the worldwide Red Cross movement. Delegates from Red Cross groups and representatives of governments attend the conference. It meets every four years to discuss the Geneva Conventions. It also discusses cooperation between the Red Cross organizations and governments.
VOICE ONE:
The proposal that led to the huge Red Cross movement was made more than one-hundred-forty years ago. A Swiss citizen named Jean Henri Dunant proposed that every country establish permanent aid organizations that would be politically neutral. He wanted these organizations to help sick and wounded soldiers.
Mr. Dunant had seen the terrible suffering of soldiers injured in war. He established a field hospital in the battle area for the wounded soldiers of both sides after a conflict in Italy. That was in Eighteen-Fifty-Nine, during the Austro-Sardinian War.
Mr. Dunant wrote about his experiences in a book, A Memory of Solferino. His book helped many people understand the need for a worldwide aid agency. The influence of Jean Henri Dunant helped create the International Committee of the Red Cross. It was established at a meeting in Geneva in Eighteen-Sixty-Three.
VOICE TWO:
The organization that developed from Mr. Dunant's proposal continues to provide help around the world. In December, Nineteen-Ninety-Nine, northern Venezuela suffered days of heavy rain. This caused landslides and flooding in the area. About thirty-thousand people died. The American Red Cross spent almost five-million dollars on emergency aid. More than one year later, the Red Cross still is helping Venezuelan survivors rebuild their lives.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Holly Capehart. This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.
Source: www.voa.gov/special/