Everyday tragedies are emphasized in bold letters on our newspapers, online media sources, and email subject lines, but it’s easy to brush over these events because they happen so often. However, Hurricane Matthew—the tropical cyclone currently leaving a trail of destruction over the Atlantic Ocean—is not something we should ignore. Because this storm is now charging towards the United States, an overwhelming majority of media coverage has focused on the potential dangers in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. But do you know what’s located only an hour’s flight south of Florida? Haiti.
Parts of Haiti have already been devastated by the hurricane, but attention to this in the news has been limited. Kevin Lombardi, Executive Director of the Massachusetts-based nonprofit YourStory International (YSI), said on their GoFundMe page Tuesday, Oct. 4, “Yesterday morning, Hurricane Matthew made landfall in southwestern Haiti, dropping an estimated 40 inches of rain with winds up to 145 miles per hour on the community we serve in the Pont Morel area. Details are scarce for the moment, but what we do know is alarming.”
Lombardi said that most of the families in the neighborhoods surrounding Léogâne have been living in temporary plywood houses that they received after the earthquake six years ago—designed as transitional dwellings, they cannot stand up to hurricane-force winds or flooding. “Unfortunately the record-breaking floods have washed away the homes of many of the people we serve as the streets in Leogane and the surrounding areas have turned to rivers,” he added.
The people who live in these communities rely on access to roads everyday. People walk miles to markets just to buy fresh food, access wells for drinkable water, and sell their own goods to make a living. It might be difficult to completely grasp the magnitude of the catastrophic destruction caused by the hurricane because the details remain scarce, but we do know that the death toll has reached 11 throughout the Carribbean already. Victims have been forced to share close quarters in their homes and in relief centers, which is what the YSI compound has temporarily become. These tight living situations are dangerous. The effects of the hurricane not only make it difficult to find daily necessities, but they also put the victims at high risk for sharing waterborne diseases and other ailments. Natural disasters like Hurricane Matthew pose a serious public health threat to these communities.
So, what can you do to help? While many organizations’ immediate reactions may be to hop on a plane, you have to consider the logistics. The Port-au-Prince Airport has been shut down for the last several days due to the severe weather conditions, so taxis and buses are going to be full of people trying to reach relatives or seek refuge from their own destroyed neighborhoods. And even if you reach one of these areas, the roads have become rivers, and getting through them would not be an easy feat. An effective form of aid is donating to an organization that already has people at the sight, and as a result will be able to immediately utilize your money to buy necessities like fresh food, clean water, and clean clothes for the affected communities.
Once the victims receive aid, they will be able to begin a collaborative clean-up and rebuilding effort. We don’t necessarily need to fly people to Haiti to recreate people’s homes for them: they need aid and resources to get back on their feet so that they can be in charge of their own homes. Community spirit is powerful, and by donating just $5-10, you will directly help to provide these afflicted communities the fuel they need to gain their spirit back.
Please consider donating to either YSI’s GoFundMe or directly on their website. Both of these links contribute funds directly to the YSI Director, who then immediately transfers the funds to Marie, the YSI leader on the ground who is working tirelessly directly out of Léogâne.