Team Responds Quickly to Dominican Republic Flooding
(English * Español)
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U.S. Peace Corps volunteers and community
members help unload USAID/OFDA supplies
from a U.S. military helicopter. |
January 2008
Weeks of wet weather followed by heavy rainfall
from Tropical Storm Noel caused massive
flooding throughout the Dominican Republic
in late October 2007. The flooding killed at
least 85 people, resulted in the disappearance
of dozens of others, displaced nearly 80,000
residents, destroyed 1,879 homes, damaged
more than 18,000 others, and took a heavy toll
on the nation’s agricultural crops, roadways,
and electrical power and potable water infrastructure.
On October 31, the U.S. Agency for International
Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign
Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) began deploying
a disaster assessment team to Santo
Domingo to help the Government of the Dominican
Republic respond to the needs of affected
inhabitants.
Speed and effectiveness characterized the U.S.
response efforts in the days that followed, according
to Tim Callaghan, USAID/OFDA Senior
Regional Advisor for Latin America and the
Caribbean, who headed the eight-person assessment
team in the Dominican Republic.
“Everything was done in a timely manner. The
quickness of the U.S. response was quite
beneficial to the victims – especially when it
came to vital items such as chlorine tablets
and mosquito nets,” Callaghan said. Safe
drinking water and protection from mosquitoborne
illnesses were among the top priorities
of affected families.
“We were able to get an assessment team in
fairly quickly. Funding was also provided
quickly,” he said. “Kudos to the USAID/Dominican
Republic team for its wonderful job in
turning around the initial assistance
($100,000) and providing emergency grants to
two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in
just 24 hours. Not only were we able to fund
grants swiftly, we also got relief items out
swiftly. Everything was delivered within four
days, which is pretty fast.”
Jeffery Cohen, Mission Disaster Relief Officer
(MDRO) for the USAID/Dominican Republic,
described the coordination between the U.S.
Government agencies responding to Tropical
Storm Noel as exceptional.
“USAID/OFDA provided the needed resources
– financial, human, and relief – quickly. The
U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Military Southern
Command and Puerto Rican National Guard
responded first with search and rescue, then
airlifting supplies and food to isolated areas.
Even Peace Corps volunteers got into the act
by helping load helicopters and training NGOs
and community leaders on how to use PUR
water purification tablets for making dirty water
potable. It was truly a U.S. Government
team effort,” Cohen said.
USAID/OFDA airlifted more than $350,000
worth of commodities from its warehouse in
Miami, Florida, to Santo Domingo for distribution
to affected residents, including 11,136
hygiene kits, 11,400 ten-liter water containers,
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6,000 blankets, 5,000 mosquito nets, 150 rolls
of reinforced plastic sheeting (to provide shelter
for nearly 1,000 families), and ten 10,000-
liter water bladders.
“As a USAID staff member, I was impressed
with the ability of USAID/OFDA to drop in,
assess the situation, build the needed links to
other donors and make quick, decisive decisions
that got supplies to the affected without
delay,” Cohen said.
Another factor in the speed of the response,
according to Callaghan, was that the team included
three field officers from the Dominican
Republic working under the regional surge capacity
network managed by the International
Resources Group (IRG).
“The local consultants are well educated professionals
who know the country and all the
relevant issues because they live there. That’s
part of the reason the USAID/OFDA team was
able to move so quickly,” he said.
Besides the initial $100,000 provided to
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and World Vision,
USAID/OFDA provided nearly $900,000
to various other organizations through USAID/
Dominican Republic, and $200,000 to the
Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) to
support vector control and water-related programs.
In total, USAID/OFDA humanitarian
assistance to the Dominican Republic after
Tropical Storm Noel exceeded $1.5 million.
Additionally, the U.S. Military Southern Command
provided more than $255,000 in emergency
relief commodities, more than $1.3 million
in typhoid and other vaccines and 206
flight hours. The USAID/Dominican Republic
also made available 100,000 packages of PUR
water-treatment products.
“The team received great support from the
USAID/Dominican Republic staff and our implementing
partners to get out more than
30,000 food and relief items with the help of
Peace Corps volunteers and U.S. Department
of Defense and Coast Guard assets,” Callaghan
said. “A lot of roads were affected by
the flooding, which made it difficult to get
supplies out to some areas at first – thus the
need for air support.”
Implementing partners included the Dominican
Ministry of Health, San Jose de Ocoa Development
Association (ADESJO), Dominican
Red Cross, Foundation for the Development of
the South (FUNDESUR), Dominican Development
Institute (IDDI), Oxfam, World Vision,
and CRS.
“USAID/Dominican Republic was able to tap
into its strong group of local NGOs who have
the skills and the reach to get relief quickly
into the hands of those who needed it. NGOs
such as CRS and World Vision were ahead of
the curve on assessing needs and putting together
proposals immediately. Their efforts
saved lives,” Cohen said.
Another highlight of the response was a
unique arrangement with Family Health International
(FHI), an NGO that works with USAID
to foster HIV/AIDS awareness in the Dominican
Republic, to funnel relief supplies and
funds to half a dozen smaller NGOs.
“Through a pre-existing grant agreement with
FHI, we were able to get assistance out to a
variety of groups spread out throughout the
country. That really helped us distribute relief
items at a community level,” Callaghan said.
The support from the USAID staff also proved
invaluable, according to Callaghan. “I really
can’t overstate the support we got from
USAID/Dominican Republic. It was terrific. It
allowed us to perform our duties in a timely
and professional manner,” he said.
The USAID/OFDA team also received excellent
support from the staff of the U.S. Embassy
and Peace Corps, which evacuated its volunteers
from affected areas and put them to work
on relief efforts. Excellent coordination also
occurred among the team and other international
donors, including the European Union
Humanitarian Aid Department, PAHO, Oxfam,
and the Canadian International Development
Agency.
“We shared information and met constantly to
coordinate our assistance and avoid duplication
of efforts, in both technical and geographical
areas,” Callaghan explained.
Even after many USAID/OFDA team members
left after 10 days of intense response work, a
small contingent stayed on to provide on theground-
presence for nearly three weeks.
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