“Attending to a disaster is not the responsibility of only one party, it’s a collective effort between government and non-government entities,” said head of department for Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services Moshema Mosia.
Mosia said such an agreement is an important milestone in the relationship between the City of Ekurhuleni and the Red Cross, as it commits both entities to working together to maximise efficiency in cases of disaster and emergency.
The chief executive officer of SARCS, Derick Naidoo, highlighted that though the organisation has worked closely with the municipality in the past, the day was aimed at officiating their relationship.
“Our mission is to render services to prevent and alleviate human suffering and to foster human dignity in all communities,” he added.
“To that end we have seen work being done on the ground here in Ekurhuleni.
Naidoo explained that the day was all about declaring that the Red Cross and the municipality will continue to work closely together.
The South African Red Cross Society is a member organisation of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which is the largest volunteer driven organisation on Earth.
The Red Cross Society has 100 million members and a presence in 189 countries.
In August, 2007, the South African government recognised the South African Red Cross Society as an official auxiliary to the government in regard to humanitarian aid.
