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Stamford, Conn. – Oct. 26, 2012 – AmeriCares emergency response experts are closely monitoring Hurricane Sandy and preparing to deliver medicines, first aid kits, cleaning products, flashlights and other relief supplies to the hardest hit communities up and down the East Coast. AmeriCares relief workers have reached out to more than 100 health clinics, food banks and other agencies with offers of assistance. The global health and disaster relief organization also has aid workers ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice.
“We have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario where Hurricane Sandy hits a densely populated area, causing massive flooding, damage to homes and businesses and widespread power outages,” said Garrett Ingoglia, AmeriCares vice president of emergency response. “All of the weather reports indicate this is going to be a very serious storm, and we are ready to help in any way we can.”
AmeriCares has delivered medical relief and humanitarian assistance to millions affected by natural and man-made disasters for 30 years. In the past year alone, AmeriCares has responded to Hurricane Isaac in Mississippi and Louisiana, tornadoes in Kentucky and Indiana and wildfires in Colorado. When heavy rains and flooding force residents to be evacuated from their homes, AmeriCares delivers personal care items and bottled water to shelters and food banks assisting displaced families. The aid organization also delivers cleaning supplies to help families in the U.S. cleaning up storm damage, as well as medical aid for evacuees with chronic health problems forced to flee their homes without their prescription medicines.
Hurricane Sandy swept through the Caribbean in recent days, killing at least 29 people, and threatens to strike the Northeast with force as early as Sunday morning. Dubbed a “Frankenstorm” by weather forecasters because of a confluence of storm systems and arrival just before Halloween, Hurricane Sandy now has a 90 percent chance of hitting the East Coast with gale-force winds and heavy flooding, causing up to an estimated $1 billion in damage.
In Haiti, where the storm caused severe flooding this week, AmeriCares responded swiftly with deliveries of cholera treatment and prevention supplies, since cases of the potentially deadly disease tend to spike after heavy rains. The AmeriCares Haiti team also prepared hundreds of family emergency kits with disinfectants, cleaning products and first aid supplies, and replenished a dwindling stock of emergency medicines at a major hospital in Port-au-Prince.
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