American Red Cross Homeland Security Advisory System Recommendations for Individuals, Families, Neighborhoods, Schools, and Businesses

The White House issued Homeland Security Directive-3, in March 2002, which established five threat conditions for possible terrorist attack: Green = Low; Blue = Guarded; Yellow = Elevated; Orange = High; and Red = Severe.

General explanations were given for preparedness activities for each level, but these were intended mainly for government agencies. Across the country questions of “What does a condition ‘yellow’ mean to me or my family? or What does this mean to a business or school?” remained. The American Red Cross recognized the need and developed a complementary set of guidelines for the following areas:

View the online version of the Homeland Security Advisory Recomendations (HTML).

The files below are in Portable Document Format (.pdf) and require Adobe Acrobat^® Reader^® which can be downloaded free from Adobe Acrobat.
We encourage you to print these PDF files.

• Individuals (PDF)
• Families (PDF)
• Neighborhoods (PDF)
• Schools (PDF)
• Businesses (PDF)

Click here for a Spanish Version of the Recommendations.

Additional Materials and Resources for Use with the Homeland Security Advisory System and American Red Cross Recommendations

American Red Cross materials dealing with terrorism and unexpected events

Visit the on-line listing of available publications. Click on "Publications" then "Community Disaster Education" to get to lists of available materials such as:

• Terrorism: Preparing for the Unexpected (S)
• Fact Sheet on Rolling Blackouts (S)
• Family Disaster Planning (S)
• Children and Disasters (S)
• Special Needs
• Animal Safety
• Financial Preparedness
• Business and Industry Guide
• Links will provide mental health materials to include:
  • How Do I Deal with My Feelings?
  • Helping Young Children Cope with Trauma (S)
  • When Bad Things Happen (S)
  • Why Do I Feel Like This? (S)

Notes:

1. American Red Cross Chapters can provide these materials and others at no cost or a nominal fee, depending on the item
2. Items with an (S) are available in Spanish
3. Many of the items listed on the public website are available in Spanish and other languages and available to be ordered in brochure form
4. The materials listed in this document are not meant to be the sole source of preparedness information for the American public