What is the Red Cross doing to provide housing to the tens of thousands of evacuees?
A The American Red Cross is determined to provide safe, temporary shelter for everyone who needs it. We are operating 504 shelters in 17 states today housing more than 143,000 people. Some people who evacuated early were able to find hotel accommodation. Many are now discovering they cannot return home and are exhausting their financial resources. The Red Cross is covering the hotel costs for these individuals and families. As of September 5, an estimated 54,000 people have been assisted through this special transient accommodation program. This program is a ramped-up version of the Red Cross emergency lodging which chapters provide every day in their community to those affected by the more than 75,000 disasters a year-primarily house fires-to which the Red Cross responds.
