Large-Scale Hurricane Response Launched

Deliveries of emergency aid underway to help survivors in need

As communities throughout the East Coast struggle to recover from Hurricane Sandy, AmeriCares has launched a large-scale emergency response to help survivors of the devastation.  As of October 31, more than 6 million people remain without power, and as cold weather sets in, authorities estimate it may take weeks to restore power to some areas. Meanwhile, extensive damage to roads, homes and businesses, severe flooding, and mass transit shutdowns are posing great challenges to both survivors, and recovery efforts.

Our emergency response team is making site visits and delivering family emergency kits and other relief supplies to hard hit communities, while our aid workers stand ready to deploy. We continue to contact our clinic and response partners, as well as FEMA and voluntary agencies to assess needs and prepare targeted shipments of medicines and relief supplies.

Our initial emergency response include:

• Working with the Salvation Army and other organizations to provide hundreds of family emergency kits, 5,000 Johnson & Johnson hygiene kits, and household clean-up kits to families displaced by flooding throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
• Working with Feeding America and Nestle Waters North America to deliver truckloads of bottled water to food banks in affected areas, including areas of New York City and Long Island where fresh drinking water is scarce due to power outages.
• Deploying our mobile medical clinic on November 1, stocked with medicines and relief supplies to help treat the ill, injured and displaced in Staten Island, New York.
• In hard-hit communities that are inaccessible due to flooding and road closures, we are prepared to award disaster relief grants.

Meanwhile, our emergency outreach efforts continue to support clinics in our network. A stock of targeted medicines and supplies is positioned for immediate shipment, with special focus on tetanus vaccine, chronic care meds including insulin, first aid, personal care and hygiene kits for the displaced.

“The damage to the East Coast is unprecedented, and we are prepared to provide a sustained response to help affected communities,” said Garrett Ingoglia, AmeriCares vice-president of emergency response. “As our partners identify urgent needs, we are ready to help in any way we can.”

In Haiti where the storm caused severe flooding earlier this week, AmeriCares responded swiftly with deliveries of cholera treatment and prevention supplies, as well as emergency and clean-up supplies.

“We put health first in times of emergency, preparing for high-impact seasonal disasters like hurricanes well before they occur,” explained Ingoglia. “Our disaster preparedness planning and coordination is a vital part of our emergency response capabilities, especially in hurricane-prone regions.