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Save the Children Responding to Families Affected by Tropical Storm Noel
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People wash their belongings in a river after flashfloods and mudslides hit outside of San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. REUTERS/Kena Betancur |
Donate to support Save the Children’s response to help the thousands of displaced children and families in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Westport, Conn. (November 2, 2007) — Save the Children, a humanitarian agency that responds to disasters and works to improve the lives of children around the world, is calling on the public to support the agency's efforts to assist children and families affected by the deadly storm that battered the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The storm slammed into the island with winds of up to 80 miles an hour and unrelenting downpours that left thousands homeless. More than 100 people are reported dead, many of them swept away in muddy floodwaters after two rivers burst their banks and tore through the village of Villa Altagracia outside Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
Save the Children Dominican Republic program staff members are already working with authorities to assess the situation in the most affected regions of the Southwest Dominican Republic, including Barahona, Pedernales and Independencia. Save the Children Dominican Director Horacio Ornes, who himself was stranded by the storm, reports that mudslides and flooding have closed off major roads connecting Santo Domingo and the affected areas, and that an estimated 60,000 people have been forced out of their homes. Save the Children's response will focus on meeting the immediate needs of the displaced children and families, including clean water, food and shelter.
In Haiti, Save the Children's staff members are working with the Civil Protection Department of the Haitian Government and other agencies to assist families in the Western border region with the Dominican Republic and in the Southeast. Save the Children is distributing school kits and infant care kits in these areas, many of which also were impacted by flooding in September.
Save the Children works in more than 50 countries, including the United States, and serves more than 33 million children and 32 million others working to save and improve children's lives, including parents, community members, local organizations and government agencies.
