SAMARITAN’S PURSE KEEPS UP RELIEF EFFORTS IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE MARIA.

 
Samaritan’s Purse continues to bring physical and spiritual aid to suffering people in the Caribbean as they struggle with the devastating effects of both hurricanes Irma and Maria. We are airlifting hundreds of tons of emergency supplies—including food, water purification units, hygiene kits, heavy-duty shelter plastic—to benefit several islands. We have dozens of disaster assistance response team (DART) members spread across Puerto Rico, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Martin, and Turks and Caicos.

Our Ongoing Caribbean Distributions to Date (Oct. 3)

• Heavy-duty shelter tarpaulin to 19,951 households.
• More than 8,000 hygiene kits
• Nearly 17,000 blankets
• Almost 4,000 buckets
• More than 50,000 liters of clean water
• Nearly 46,000 packages of high-energy food

We continue to airlift tons of emergency supplies to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and distributions began Wednesday 27th September. Thousands of households are receiving heavy-duty shelter tarp and a variety of non-food emergency items. Samaritan’s Purse is working with an extensive church network on the island established from Franklin Graham’s Festival in February and through our Operation Christmas Child project.

On Barbuda we have set up a desalination water point for workers and residents who are shuttling between the island and Antigua. We are the only organisation providing vital clean water to the people of Barbuda. To date, our water systems have produced over 4,500 litres of drinking water. We are assisting several churches that experienced hurricane damage, in addition to helping individual residents and families.

SAMARITAN’S PURSE IS ON THE GROUND IN THE REGION DISTRIBUTING CLEAN WATER, TARPS, BLANKETS, FOOD AND HYGIENE KITS AMONG THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES.

Our DART arrived on Dominica on Saturday 23rd September. The team is distributing heavy-duty shelter tarp and hygiene kits. Dominica was pummeled by Hurricane Maria and there is a sense grave concern on the island, though people are generally remaining calm and are grateful to be alive. Samaritan’s Purse has deployed six nurses to help with some of the island’s medical needs.

Our team has been well-received by locals and government officials on Dominica. One person asked our team lead, “Are you a tourist visiting, or are you trying to leave?” Our staff member explained that he works for Samaritan’s Purse and told what we do. The local person replied, “I’m very thankful you’re here.”

In St. Martin, we are currently focused on passing out jerry cans to enable people to get clean, safe drinking water from neighborhood locations where we’ve set up desalination equipment.

Our work on the Turks and Caicos Islands has recently been completed. More than 5,000 households received relief supplies. Our team trained more than 30 churches how to effectively bring physical and spiritual aid to the local community in Jesus’ Name.

Please keep praying for those in the Caribbean struggling desperately after hurricanes Maria and Irma.

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