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Red Cross Helping after Massive Storms in Puerto Rico and Alaska

Pays
Porto Rico (États-Unis d'Amérique)
Sources
American Red Cross
Date de publication
Origine
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People in Alaska and Puerto Rico are still struggling with the heartbreaking damage left behind by Hurricane Fiona and Typhoon Merbok and the American Red Cross is on the ground in both regions, helping people impacted by these devastating storms.

PUERTO RICO Hundreds of Red Cross disaster workers, many with no power or water themselves, are working with our partners to help the people of Puerto Rico days after Hurricane Fiona ravaged the island.

Multiple areas of the island can’t be accessed due to damaged roads and bridges and first responders are going in by foot to provide necessities such as food, water and medicine. Almost a million customers still have no power and hundreds of thousands are without water service as an extreme heat warning is in force.

In Puerto Rico, the government opens and manages emergency shelters and more than 388 people spent Thursday night in dozens of shelters, some powered by solar sources made possible by a Red Cross contribution of nearly $1.5 million after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017. Red Cross and partners delivered solar power to 160 schools at that time, many of them serving as emergency shelters today.

More than 240 trained Red Cross volunteers are helping assess the damage and have provided more than 900 households with emergency supplies. More supplies are on the way. Some of these items include water, cleaning supplies, towels, bedding, disposable plates and even teddy bears. Where possible, as many as 300 meals and snacks have been served.

Red Crossers are ready to provide health and mental health services virtually with additional support when conditions allow. Once damage is assessed, the Red Cross may be able to provide additional resources through recovery casework. Many of these Red Cross workers are helping despite having no power or water themselves.

Prior to Hurricane Fiona making landfall, the Red Cross prepositioned blood products to support hospitals in Puerto Rico. The Red Cross is sending additional units of platelets to support patients there. Platelets have a short shelf life of only 5 days. The Red Cross urges those in non-impacted areas to give blood and platelets by visiting redcrossblood.org.

Five years ago this week, Hurricane Maria devastated much of Puerto Rico and left mass destruction across the island. The Red Cross offered immediate assistance and stayed for several years, helping build resilience on the island so people could be better ready for emergencies. Most notable is the project the Red Cross and partners worked on to deliver solar power sources to 160 schools, many of them serving as emergency shelters in the wake of Hurricane Fiona. A Red Cross contribution of nearly $1.5 million helped make the undertaking possible.

ALASKA The Red Cross is deploying disaster teams by plane to rural areas of Alaska where Typhoon Merbok devastated a thousand-mile stretch of the western coast over the weekend, damaging homes, seawalls, roads and airport runways as well as water systems in as many as 40 towns and villages.

The state is trying to quickly deliver supplies necessary to repair damaged homes before freezing weather sets in. Recovery efforts will be especially challenging in a region where some villages are only reachable by air or barge and use of the barges will end soon due to sea ice. Air deliveries will significantly raise recovery costs in the area.

More than 60 Red Cross disaster workers from all over the country are helping in Alaska. They are flying out of Nome and Bethel to help with damage assessment, case management and other assistance and working to procure emergency supplies such as tarps, coolers, vacuum sealers, window film, insulation, sealing foam, and heater meals to deliver to remote communities that were impacted by the storms.

In Alaska, shelters are run by the government and community groups and the Red Cross is prepared to support them if needed. Thursday night 14 shelters were open with more than 30 people staying overnight.

It’s important to remember that responding to disasters is a team effort and no single organization can do it alone — the Red Cross will coordinate with officials and emergency management to help those affected.

YOU CAN HELP people affected by disasters like storms, floods and countless other crises by making a gift to Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. Visit redcross.org, call 800-RED-CROSS, or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

For those interested in helping people specifically affected by the storms in Alaska, they can write “Alaska Storms” in the memo line of a check and mail it with a completed donation form to the address on the form or to their local Red Cross chapter.

For those interested in helping people specifically affected by Hurricane Fiona, they can write “Hurricane Fiona” in the memo line of a check and mail it with a completed donation form to the address on the form or to their local Red Cross chapter.

Find the donation form at redcross.org/donate.

Download the free Red Cross Emergency app to have severe weather safety information right at your fingertips, along with shelter locations. The Emergency app provides real-time weather alerts and tips on how to stay safe during severe weather and countless other emergencies. Search “American Red Cross” in app stores or go to redcross.org/apps.

CORPORATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS HELP The generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters big and small, respond whenever and wherever disasters occur and help families during the recovery process.

ADGP $1M Members: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Best Buy; Caterpillar Foundation; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; McDonald’s Corporation; Microsoft Corp.; Nationwide Foundation; PayPal; PetSmart Charities; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; and Wells Fargo.

ADGP $500K Members: Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bread Financial; Calmoseptine, Inc.; Capital One; CarMax; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; Dollar General; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company Fund; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Google.org The Home Depot Foundation; International Paper; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mastercard; Merck; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Organon; PepsiCo Foundation; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, home of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Stanley Black & Decker; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; and The Wawa Foundation.

ADGP $250K Members: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; The AES Corporation; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Big 5 Sporting Goods; CDW; Choice Hotels International; Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Company; CSX; The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Duke Energy; Dutch Bros Foundation; Equitable; FirstEnergy Corporation; Gopuff; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; HCA Healthcare; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LHC Group; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Foundation, Inc.; Martin Marietta; Mattress Firm; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Northrop Grumman; Northwestern Mutual; Old Dominion Freight Line; Pacific Life Foundation; Procter & Gamble; Prudential; Raytheon Technologies; Reckitt; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Project, a project of New Venture Fund; Ross Stores Foundation; Ryder System, Inc.; San Manuel Band of Mission Indians; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Tata Consultancy Services; U-Haul International; U.S. Bank Foundation; and Zurich.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

American Red Cross: All American Red Cross disaster assistance is provided at no cost, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. The Red Cross also supplies nearly half of the nation's lifesaving blood. This, too, is made possible by generous voluntary donations. To help the victims of disaster, you may make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-435-7669) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. To donate blood, please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or contact your local Red Cross to find out about upcoming blood drives. © Copyright, The American National Red Cross. All Rights Reserved.