At sunrise this morning, Hurricane Matthew was battering the southwestern tip of Haiti as a Category 4 hurricane. The gigantic storm is packing 145 mph (220 km) winds, dropped 20 to 40 inches of rain on the country, and blew 7- to 10-foot waves onto the western coast. World Renew is appealing for funds to respond to the destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew.
Staff and partners (Christian Reformed World Missions & Back To God Ministries International) of World Renew are already present in Haiti on an ongoing basis and are preparing to respond to the flooding and destruction wreaked by Matthew today.
In a radio address on Saturday, Jocelerme Privert, the president of Haiti, urged residents to move to schools and church buildings for safety if their homes were at risk of collapse or they were living in tents. According to the Associated Press, 1,300 emergency shelters are open across the country, enough to hold up to 340,000 people. As of this morning, a little more than 2,000 evacuated to shelters despite pleas from the government and the urging from civil protection teams. In Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, many people are reluctant to leave their homes due to the risk of further loss from looting.
Haiti’s southern peninsula took the brunt of the storm, with significant flooding and severe housing damage already being reported. Further destruction from mudslides and flash flooding remains a concern across Haiti, though it is too early to determine the full extent of damage.
World Renew, as a member of the Integral Alliance, will participate in a joint assessment of the needs in the southern peninsula beginning tomorrow, October 5, 2016. As this assessment is carried out, World Renew and other members of the alliance will get a better picture of how significant the damage is and begin to plan and implement a response.
As the response to Matthew takes shape, financial support is urgently needed to provide assistance among Haiti’s hardest hit communities.
North America
This evening, Hurricane Matthew is moving slowly northeast toward Cuba, where 700 U.S. non-essential personnel have been evacuated from the Guantanamo Bay Naval facility, and the Bahama Islands. Matthew is expected to hit the U.S. East Coast most directly in the Carolinas, but the governor of Florida has already declared a state of emergency and is expecting major destruction.
Bob Laarman, director of Disaster Response Services (DRS), World Renew’s North American disaster response program said, “Right now, it appears that the Carolinas will be directly affected by Matthew, and World Renew DRS is prepared to respond quickly there. However, if Matthew doesn’t divert from its forecasted path in the next couple of days, there could be major damage all along the East Coast.”
World Renew DRS staff have already been in contact with its local disaster response partners in North Carolina who requested that World Renew “pencil them in” for clean-up help next week and in the future, where residents have noted Matthew’s similarities to Hurricane Hazel in 1954.
“Sixty-six out of one hundred North Carolina counties have been declared potential disaster sites,” said Rick and Bonnie Wiersma, DRS regional managers. Kellie Scholma. “World Renew DRS is making plans to put clean-up teams in place, and standing by to help with flood recovery.”
To arrange an interview about World Renew’s response to Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, contact Jonathan Self, Communications Contact for International Disaster Response, at 800-552-7972 or email [email protected].
To arrange an interview about World Renew’s possible response to Hurricane Matthew in the U.S., contact Kellie Scholma, communications coordinator for Disaster Response Services, at 800-848-5818 or email [email protected].
