The first job is to acquire information about a disaster . The second is to acquire and assign resources for the relief effort. This two-step plan is far more complicated that it sounds. At the front desk, staff members are on duty 24 hours a day, ready to take a call at any time from someone in need of assistance. The desk stands at the front of a large, spacious area called the Situation Room.
Long tables form a big rectangle, surrounded by chairs, in the center of the room.
A microphone sits in front of each chair. The tables make up the central briefing area, used by representatives of various Red Cross departments throughout a disaster. The Red Cross disaster staff gathers at the briefing area once or twice a week to keep everyone apprised of ongoing relief operations, large or small. During a time of high activity, briefings might be increased to twice a day. Phones ring, computers click, faxes arrive, TVs offer constant updates.