With the hottest summer on record in the UK last year and heatwaves sweeping Europe and the UK again in recent months, the effects of global heating on our planet are becoming impossible to ignore. The more frequent and intense extreme weather driven by the climate crisis is already having an impact on the UK – and dealing with the fallout from this is something the British Red Cross is making a top priority.
“We are increasingly responding to emergencies that are weather and climate related,” says Dr Ellie Murtagh, UK climate adaptation lead at the British Red Cross. For example, during last summer’s heatwave, the British Red Cross was on the ground responding to multiple different extreme weather events. This meant supporting people in London who lost their homes due to fires caused by barbecues on dry grass and those in a Yorkshire village who were left without water when a large water pipe burst.
It also supported fire crews who had been tackling wildfires in Norfolk, ensuring their needs were met so they could focus on continuing to tackle the blaze. When floods struck, volunteers delivered sandbags, went door-to-door checking in on vulnerable residents and provided supplies of food, water and clothing.
Extreme weather can affect any one of us, however those dealing with complex needs already are the most vulnerable – and the current cost of living crisis is putting more people at risk. “The climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis,” says Murtagh, adding that the British Red Cross Insight Team has recently updated its Climate Just mapping tool, which is designed to identify and understand vulnerabilities related to the climate crisis.
“The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events – such as floods and heatwaves – that we respond to, is increasing and will continue to increase as a result of climate change. We recognise that as our climate continues to change, so too will the demand on our services,” she says.
To best support people, partners and effectively allocate resources, the British Red Cross is investing in climate adaptation as well as emergency response. Climate change adaptation is the adjustment to and preparation for climate change and its impacts, both now and in the future. This includes enhancing or improving green spaces (such as parks and forests), installing property level flood protection, through to raising awareness and understanding of local climate risks. “Our role supports awareness raising, capacity building and being part of a programme to help people to adapt, through the work of our Crisis and Emergency Response, Community Education and Youth Engagement teams,” says Murtagh.
Understanding the changing climate and its impact is a big part of this. The British Red Cross’s recent Feeling The Heat report looked at how the UK dealt with extreme heat last summer and how it can prepare better for future heat incidents in a bid to raise awareness of the severity of the problem and call on policymakers to implement change. Similarly, in its Every Time It Rains report, it explored the experiences of communities affected most severely by flooding in the UK and those who may be at risk in the future.
Community resilience – the ability of those in the affected areas to prepare, cope and recover from incidents – plays a crucial role in addressing the weather problems caused by climate change. “The reason we focus on community resilience is that it takes everyone in that community – individuals, families, groups – to come together to really make sure communities can be prepared to respond and recover from incidents,” says Carney Bonner, UK community resilience development lead at the British Red Cross.
“We look at what we and our partners are doing across the UK, including linking into local infrastructure and community and grassroots organisations, to make sure the community can take ownership over their resilience,” he says. “The best people to understand how we can support growing resilience and support communities are the communities themselves.”
An important part of this is understanding exactly what constitutes community resilience. The British Red Cross does this by identifying a set of resilience indicators. “We need to assess what makes a community truly resilient. It’s not just looking at infrastructure but understanding how communities and groups are recovering and rebuilding. These baselines help us understand what communities are resilient and how we can learn from them,” says Bonner.
For example, a partnership with Aviva is looking at supporting communities to better prepare for, and have greater protection from crises. The three-year pilot project is working to build resilience hubs in at-risk areas to make sure information can be shared by groups and organisations that can help. “All these areas have groups set up to help, so we want to make sure we can support with awareness raising for the local people affected in one concise space and save them spending time searching for information,” says Bonner.
Co-creating solutions is something both Murtagh and Bonner feel passionately about when preparing for the impacts of the climate crisis. “We are really keen to work with others in this space and those on the ground to take joint action,” says Murtagh. “We want to work collaboratively to provide valuable services to those most in need.”
Here for humanity
Helping the UK through extreme weather emergencies starts with you. The British Red Cross is on the ground to support communities and provide vital relief. Together, with your help, we are the world’s emergency responders. Please donate today
The British Red Cross Society, incorporated by Royal Charter 1908, is a charity registered in England and Wales (220949), Scotland (SC037738), Isle of Man (0752) and Jersey (430).
