Two hurricanes left extensive devastation on multiple Caribbean islands. Category 5 Hurricane Irma brought heavy rains to Sint Maarten/St. Martin, Antigua and Barbuda, and Turks and Caicos earlier this month. Then, Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico and Dominica on September 18, 2017.
The strong winds of Hurricane Maria caused power outage in the whole island of Puerto Rico, affecting 3.4 million citizens. Landslides blocked many roads and massive flooding submerged villages, reports Premier.
“Mission Aviation Fellowship is working with Samaritan’s Purse to survey the needs and bring help to the islands that have been torn apart by hurricanes Maria and Irma,” said John Woodberry, global manager of disaster response for MAF.
Immediately, Christian charity group Samaritan’s Purse sent humanitarian aid to each affected islands in the Caribbean.
In coordination with local churches, Samaritan’s Purse delivered about 54,000 pounds of emergency relief supplies to San Juan, Puerto Rico’s capital. These include generators, heavy-duty shelter plastics, water purification units and other supplies, reports ReliefWeb.
Meantime, hygiene kits and tarps were distributed to those affected in Dominica. Over one-third of Sint Maarten’s population received relief goods from the group.
Helping Samaritan’s Purse in its logistics is Mission Aviation Fellowship. A Christian mission and aid organization, MAF provides airplanes, communications and other technologies to humanitarian agencies.
“MAF is working with Samaritan’s Purse to survey the needs and bring help to the islands that have been torn apart by hurricanes Maria and Irma,” said John Woodberry, global manager of disaster response for MAF.
MAF carried out aerial surveys of the hurricane damage in Dominica, Barbuda, and St. Maarten. Woodberry said much has been destroyed in Dominica.
“About 75 percent of the houses are missing roofs. Dominica has mountains and rivers which caused horrendous flash flooding as Hurricane Maria passed over, so I saw warehouses that were just obliterated,” he revealed.
Samaritan’s Purse announced that San Juan will be the center of all its relief operations in the Caribbean islands.
Sources:
Premier
ReliefWeb
MAF Canada
