A new agreement with the city of Toronto will see Red Cross volunteers deployed to assist in the event of local emergencies — both large, and small scale.

The partnership, which went into effect on May 1, will see volunteers assist any time people are displaced. That means they’ll be available not just for epic natural disasters like the devastating ice storm, but also for smaller personal emergencies like house fires and basement floods.

“What this will allow us to do is a lot more of the personal disasters as well, where maybe there was a house fire, or some of the community has seen some minor flooding,” said Red Cross Director of Disaster Management, Louise Geoffrion.

“We’ll provide food, shelter, clothing to family members that are affected, and help them with personal services.”

A recent Red Cross poll found that 66 per cent of Canadians aren’t prepared for a disaster.

Part of the new strategy involves teaching people to have emergency preparation kits ready.

The Red Cross has trained 500 new volunteers to assure they will be ready to help when called upon.

CityNews reporter Natalie Duddridge has more on the initiative in the above video.