Direct Relief Response to Irma - US & Caribbean

Hurricane Irma made landfall on September 10, 2017, just weeks after Hurricane Harvey battered Texas and coming shortly before Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico.

People living in Florida and the Carribean braced for the storm.

DIrect Relief had pre-positioned medicines and supplies at health facilities throughout the Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., so many areas at-risk for the effects of Irma were ready with aid before the storm made landfall.

Almost a year later, Direct Relief is again pre-positioning needed medicines and medical supplies at safety net clinics in hurricane-prone areas to prepare for what may be another tough hurricane season.

Preparedness is key, and last year demonstrated that for the many clinics and health centers that were readied ahead of time with Direct Relief's hurricane preparedness packs.

This year, more packs are being delivered to more clinics in the U.S., throughout the Carribean, and in other parts of the world that may be impacted by a varierty of emergency situations -- from hurricanes to cyclones to severe flooding.

Thank you for your support.

Before making landfall in Florida, Hurricane Irma ripped through the Caribbean as a Category 5 storm, with sustained winds as high as 185 mph. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 99 percent of structures were at least partially damaged by the storm in Anguilla, Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, and the US Virgin Islands. A Direct Relief team was on the ground in Florida before Irma made landfall, directing the movement and use of 12 pre-positioned Hurricane Preparedness Packs in the areas where they were needed most in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Direct Relief worked closely with health system officials and local partners to overcome persistent power outages and transportation challenges to ship specifically requested medical aid and supplies to Florida, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the Caribbean nations of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, the Dutch Antilles, Haiti, and Turks and Caicos.

To date, Direct Relief has delivered $38.2 million (wholesale) via 174 shipments to 59 partner healthcare facilities to support the health needs of communities directly affected by Hurricane Irma. Selected community health centers and charitable clinics will also  receive cash grants from Direct Relief’s Hurricane Community Health Fund in the coming weeks to help rebuild and stabilize operations to ensure the sustainability of critically important, community-based sources of care.