Kearney, Disaster Area?

Last Thursday, April 15th 2010, the University of Nebraska at Kearney staged a mock disaster drill, complete with "injured, bloody bodies strewn across the parking lot" (Kim Schmidt and Sarah Giboney, "Mock Disaster Explodes Across Campus," Kearney Hub).

Although the "accident" was staged to test the Kearney area's emergency response teams, the event seemed to hint at the upcoming Tri-Cities Blood Drive.

If the mock disaster had been a real disaster, every county in Nebraska would have held a blood drive.

However, the annual Tri-Cities Blood Drive is a yearly event that takes place in the YMCAs of Grand Island, Kearney, and Hastings. According to the American Red Cross website, the YMCA teamed up with the Red Cross to hold a blood drive right before "family vacation" season takes over everyone's minds and erases the memories of horrifying news images of all the disasters that take place all over the world every day.

Disasters don't take summer breaks.

Not all of these disasters increase the need for blood as the earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Japan and California as well as the resulting tsunamis the first two months of this year; the cyclone that ripped up the European coastline on the last day of February.

For example, a volcano in Iceland just erupted two days ago. Although many people equate the Red Cross with blood donation, Red Cross workers and volunteers provide much more than blood in their disaster relief efforts. "The Icelandic Red Cross is sheltering more than 200 people...[has evacuated] about 700 people...[and] is currently assessing whether everyone in the disaster area still has enough food" (16 April 2010, American Red Cross Website).

Members of the Red Cross from multiple countries have been present in Haiti since just after the earthquakes hit and they continue to help today. They have already given Haitians temporary shelters, latrines, medical care, vaccinations, and "more than 21,000 units of blood"--and they intend to fund shelter, emergency relief, water and sanitation projects, grants and loans for families, and disaster preparation projects over the next three to five years (12 April 2010, American Red Cross Website).