Preparing for Hurricane Season: FFTP Positions Emergency Supplies in Key Locations Before Storms Strike
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (May 30, 2023) When it comes to hurricanes, preparation is a must, and Food For The Poor (FFTP) is poised to assist the countries where it helps in the Caribbean and Latin America in case they are hit by a storm or another disaster.
On Thursday, June 1 – the first day of hurricane season – FFTP will host a hurricane media briefing at 10 a.m. in its Coconut Creek warehouse. Mark Khouri, FFTP Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer, and Jisabelle Garcia-Pedroso, Director of Programs and Operations, will be available to talk about preparations and how the charity responds to hurricanes.
“We have to be ready to provide emergency relief as soon as possible in the hours after a hurricane,” Khouri said. “One of the ways that we make sure we are prepared is to work with our in-country partners and preposition emergency relief supplies, so they are ready for distribution as soon as the storm passes.”
Colorado State University’s hurricane researchers are forecasting a slightly below-average hurricane season for the Atlantic Coast, with 13 tropical storms, of which six are forecast to become hurricanes, including two major hurricanes of Category 3 strength or greater. Other forecasts paint a slightly different picture:
- The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting a “near-normal” hurricane season, including 12 to 17 named storms, five to nine hurricanes and one to four major hurricanes for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.
- The Servicio Meteorológico Nacional forecasts 16 to 22 storms this season, with as many as 11 becoming tropical storms and up to five reaching Category 3 strength or greater on the Mexican Pacific Coast.
“While we all pray for a below average season with minimal impact, even one major hurricane can have a devastating impact on an impoverished community,” Khouri said. “So, we have to be prepared.”
Prepositioning proved beneficial last September when Hurricane Fiona made landfall in the Dominican Republic with “life-threatening flash flooding” in eastern portions of the country. The storm damaged 2,615 homes, downed trees and power lines and displaced more than 12,000 people.
Within 24 hours after the storm’s landfall, the Order of Malta in the Dominican Republic was mobilizing 500 prepositioned kits that were already in the country for distribution in the area near Punta Cana.
Thanks to the generosity of its donors, FFTP continues to work with its in-country partners to help communities rebuild and become self-sufficient. This year, the charity is sending disaster kits to nine countries, including the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The kits will have enough supplies to support 250 families in each country, with the exception of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, where FFTP is working with partners in two locations in each country to expand its reach. In those countries, two kits will help 500 families.
Each kit includes 250 tarps, 320 disaster blankets, 280 children’s activity kits from Midwest Mission Distribution Center, 540 disaster hygiene kits with hygiene items from MAP International, 250 women’s care kits, 7,000 packets of Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier, an oral rehydration solution, 5,500 water purification packets from Water Mission, 250 hand-crank emergency radio flashlights and 5,000 diapers. FFTP also provides heavy-duty bags that in-country partners use to package individual relief kits for each family.
In addition, the charity is preparing to respond to disasters in the United States if the need arises.
“Although our mission primarily is to serve internationally in the Caribbean and Latin America, we have responded in the past to disasters in the United States and its territories,” Garcia-Pedroso said. “We saw this play out last September when we provided aid after Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico and Hurricane Ian struck in Southwest Florida.”
FFTP sent 26 pallets of relief items to help families in Puerto Rico after Fiona struck the island as a Category 4 hurricane. Seven pallets were airfreighted to the Episcopal Church and 19 pallets shipped in a 40-foot container to Cáritas Puerto Rico. Relief items included generators, liquefied petroleum gas stoves, hygiene kits, adult and baby diapers, cleaning supplies and buckets.
After Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers, Fla., as a Category 4 hurricane, the charity sent a tractor-trailer load of supplies, such as Liquid I.V. oral rehydration solutions, vinyl tarps, generators and other items to the Florida Catholic Conference, which supervised the distribution in Bonita Springs through its partner, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Venice. FFTP also worked with the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church to send relief items to Fort Myers and Lakeland.
“When Hurricane Ian hit so close to home with such a devastating impact, we knew we had to respond with as much help as we possibly could,” Garcia-Pedroso said. “Our donors, volunteers and partners went into overdrive to help us distribute aid in those communities and we couldn’t be more grateful.”
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Ernestine Williams
Communications
305-321-7342
[email protected]