World Red Cross Day: Know more about this organisation
Every year, May 8 is celebrated as World Red Cross or Red Crescent Day to celebrate the good work that the Red Cross Movement does every day around the world. This day also marks the birth anniversary of Swiss businessman Henri Dunant, who came up with the idea of the Red Cross Movement.
Let’s read about a few unknown facts about this amazing organisation…
- Henri Dunant started this movement after witnessing the horrors on the battlefield during the Battle of Solferino in 1859 in Italy between the Austrian army and the Franco-Sardinian alliance. The Red Cross Flag, which looks like an inverted Swiss Flag, was designed by Henri Dunant to pay homage to his homeland.
- Red Cross includes the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which has societies in 186 member countries. There are currently 189 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world with more than 97 million staff and volunteers.
- Red Cross is an active participant in a wide number of programs and services, including emergency response, disaster preparedness, community-based health and care, first aid training and activities, restoring family contact for disaster victims, and youth and volunteer activities.
- Disaster relief works are going on 24/7. Be it hurricanes, earthquakes or terrorism attack, people are quickly deployed and resources are poured into the affected areas. That’s how this organization works.
- Did you know the Red Cross is a humanitarian entity that provides approximately 45% of the nation’s blood supply.
- Besides responding to large disasters like hurricanes or hosting blood drives in communities, the Red Cross also provides CPR and first aid training courses. They also prepare families for military services and send specialists to work with disaster survivors.
- The Red Cross has won the Nobel Peace Prize three times – in the year 1917, 1944, and 1963, while Henry Durant received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.
