The first Samaritan’s Purse cargo plane full of supplies landed in Nassau, Bahamas on Wednesday, which will be taken to islands directly hit by Hurricane Dorian.
The official death toll on the islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama stood at seven but was certain to rise as emergency workers had yet to reach some areas.
The plane load includes emergency shelter material, household water and two community water filtration units designed to turn saltwater into drinking water.
“Our focus is on looking at the shelter plastic, that’s one of the big things we are sending down right now,” said David Bock, international disaster response manager.
“People have experienced loss of home and livelihood and right now many of them are having to live in the open or with holes in their roof and so this shelter plastic is going to have an impact on them right away.”
There are 963 rolls of tarp in the first load.
Bock said the supplies were loaded on the plane from Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in North Carolina, but the Calgary warehouse is on standby in case supplies run out, along with staff.
“If they exhaust those materials down in North Carolina in their warehouse they would be looking to us to be able to provide them from here,” said Bock.
There are currently two Canadians working with Samaritan’s Purse in the disaster zone, including the team lead.
Bock said the organization is in meetings with other relief agencies to try and cover gaps in providing aid.
“That’s so important, especially in these early days, that’s why we’ve got a team in Nassau that’s going there to coordinate but also that we’re able to bring items to those people when they need them the most,” said Bock.
Samaritan’s Purse is a Christian relief and development organization, which runs completely on donations.
More information on its relief efforts can be found online.
