The Red Cross

In all disasters, the Red Cross plays an important role in immediate relief as well as in the longer term rehabilitation process. These key functions make it critical to every disaster operation. In two respects, the Red Cross may be said to be a &dquo;dual organization.&dquo; Herein lie its peculiarities as an organization. It is, on the one hand, an adjunct of the federal government, a national organization staffed by professional personnel. On the other hand, it is a local medium through which volunteers, assisted by professional staff, provide educational and relief services for the community. The central theme of this paper is that the dual nature of this organization-its national-local and staff-volunteer dimensions-has certain consequences, both positive and negative, for the effectiveness of the Red Cross in disaster operations. Intraorganizational relationships between national and local personnel and between staff and volunteers may be seen as a principal locus of many of the difficulties Red Cross experiences in task performance, decision-making, and communications in disaster.