RPCV Kelly Hurd of the American Red Cross of Alaska, was deployed to Galle, Sri Lanka, to help coordinate distribution of relief supplies to villages affected by the Dec. 26 tsunami in Southeast Asia
Disaster gives Alaskan real-world experience
RED CROSS: Staffer helped coordinate relief for tsunami victims.
By S. JANE SZABO
Anchorage Daily News
Published: March 18th, 2005
Last Modified: March 18th, 2005 at 04:12 AM
Caption: Kelly Hurd of the American Red Cross of Alaska, second from left, was deployed to Galle, Sri Lanka, to help coordinate distribution of relief supplies to villages affected by the Dec. 26 tsunami in Southeast Asia. Photo courtesy American Red Cross
March is American Red Cross Month, but the organization's work in Alaska, nationwide and abroad is crucial year-round. Its impact was driven home to staffer Kelly Hurd during a February trip to the tsunami zone in Southeast Asia.
The American Red Cross received and is marshaling more than $326 million in donations to help people rebuild their lives after the Dec. 26 earthquake and the devastating tsunami that followed. Alaskans contributed more than $1.5 million.
Hundreds of Red Cross workers and volunteers from affected areas and 36 nations have responded in such countries as Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, the Maldives and Somalia.
Hurd was one of those who went to help.
"I kind of expected a call," said the community relations manager for the Alaska office. "I was very excited because it's a neat opportunity to be able to go out and help in person."
Hurd was one in a team of eight American Red Cross representatives participating through the International Response Team of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The 200-member pool of volunteers and staff is prepared to deploy to a disaster with short notice and hit the ground running, she said.
The Dec. 26 disaster was extensive enough to warrant the attention of this special team. The 9.0 earthquake was said to be the largest since the 1964 Alaska earthquake. It struck in the Indian Ocean about 100 miles from the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. The tsunami that followed wreaked havoc on coastlines clear to Africa, with enormous loss of life and many thousands still missing and presumed dead. The world watched, horrified, as reports came in of 50-foot waves, submerged fishing villages and seismic shifts resulting in tilted islands and rewritten coastline.
Hurd too was shocked, but this is the stuff that makes the American Red Cross tick.
"This tsunami was such a huge event, such a massive response, and things like this don't come along very often," she said. Though busy with local projects including the April 19 Real Heroes Breakfast, she regrouped and made plans to go.
From boss to boyfriend, there were hurdles to cross in the planning process: clearing official channels, meeting with colleagues and garnering encouragement. Her boyfriend, Mike Hondel, "knows I love these international opportunities and experiences," said Hurd. "He said, 'This is what you love. It's an important part of why you do what you do.' "
So the 37-year-old Maine native worked into the wee hours of the morning that weekend, packed two suitcases and boarded the plane for the Feb. 2-March 6 trip.
Changing her suede coat to khaki pants and leaving spruce and moose behind for palm trees, monkeys and monitor lizards was a life-altering experience for Hurd, a former Peace Corps volunteer whose international Red Cross experience includes assignments in Macedonia in 1999 and Turkey in 2003.
She and three other Red Cross personnel worked in a warehouse to distribute supplies along the coast of Sri Lanka, to the Galle, Hambantota and Matara districts. Their purpose: delivering hygiene kits, tents, tarps, mosquito nets, blankets, sheets, kerosene stoves, sleeping mats, sarongs and other essential items to 165,000 people in some of the hardest-hit villages.
A typical day would find Hurd up early, on the roof of the huge warehouse resetting the satellite connection that helped run a network of laptop computers, fax machines, printers and cell phones. A dozen trucks arrived each morning from the capital, Colombo, and other trucks would take the supplies out to the villages. The team worked to keep goods and supplies flowing.
Hurd kept a computer inventory of goods and supply requests from the field, and she filed weekly reports to Red Cross headquarters in Colombo.
"Even though it was a month after the tsunami, I was just staggered by the devastation," she said. "There are villages that are just gone, just piles of rubble. The waves pushed everything back several hundred feet -- big ships and boats that had been floating were now pushed over on their sides in the roads."
Repair and rebirth dwell within the devastation in the form of tent cities, temporary schools and the ongoing work by charities like the American Red Cross. Helpers are focusing on needs such as food, water, sanitation, health, family supplies and psychosocial assistance.
"It's such an incredible experience to see the whole Red Cross experience in action," Hurd said.
Daily News reporter S. Jane Szabo can be reached at jszabo@adn.com.
