Program Summary 

Disaster Profile

On September 1st, Dorian made landfall as a category 5 hurricane in The Bahamas with wind speeds in excess of 185mph, lashing the Bahamian islands of Great Abaco (pop. ~17,200) and Grand Bahama (pop. ~51,000). After striking The Bahamas, Dorian’s travelling speed slowed to 1 mph over Grand Bahama, prolonging the island’s exposure to life-threatening storm surge of 18-23 feet above normal tide levels. Dorian is the strongest hurricane on record for The Bahamas and has tied a record for the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall.

Over 76,000 people have been affected and an estimated 15,000 people are in need of humanitarian aid. Response efforts have been complicated by damage to essential infrastructure, such as roads, ports, airports, healthcare facilities, government facilities, bridges and telecommunications. Lack of power supply is ongoing and almost all supply chains for the islands have been severely affected. Communications are slowly being restored with cellular connectivity accessible in central areas and wifi being set up at Emergency Operation Centers across both islands. Immediate needs including medical treatment, food security, water and evacuation continue to be top priorities for the Bahamian government and response agencies.

Our Work

Our Response Team is on the ground, in The Bahamas, working to identify specific areas to focus our efforts to best support the long road to recovery. Our team will continue coordinating with the local government and other non-profits in Nassau to determine where in Great Abaco, Grand Bahama and the surrounding islands our unique volunteer model can be most effective.

Our team has now moved into the affected areas on Great Abaco and continues to assess the greatest needs in the hardest hit communities. The assessment is concentrated on building immediate response capacity, while enabling long-term support for The Bahamas’ road to recovery.

Based on our initial assessment and conversations with local contacts, we anticipate our scopes of work could include debris removal, tarping, tree removal, temporary shelters, muck and gut and mold sanitation.

We believe in staying for the long term and plan to help rebuild resilience in affected communities. Our recovery efforts will likely target school repairs and rebuilds.

 

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is matching all donations up to a total of $2 million for our work in The Bahamas. Thank you to the generosity of our long-term partner for the support of our response and recovery efforts in The Bahamas and to everyone who has already donated.

 

Please donate to help support our hurricane relief efforts.