Direct Relief offers help to Hurricane Harvey victims
Santa Barbara nonprofit Direct Relief announced Aug. 27 that it would make its entire inventory of more than $100 million in medical supplies and $200,000 in cash support available to victims of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
The storm made landfall on Aug. 25. Parts of the state had received more than two feet of rain over the weekend, with another 50 inches and catastrophic flooding expected throughout the next week.
Direct Relief said it had stockpiled custom emergency health supplies in regions prone to tropical storms after hurricanes Katrina and Rita more than a decade ago. A total of 12 of these emergency modules have been deployed in the Galveston County Health District in Texas in response to Harvey.
Five deaths had been reported and more than 1,000 water rescues, the organization said in a news release. Direct Relief staff have also been deployed to support health centers in conjunction with the Texas Association of Community Health Centers, the National Association of Community Health Centers and local public health officials, among others.
The organization said it had donated $61.5 million in medical material aid and financial assistance since 2005 to over 200 health centers and free clinics in Texas.
“As always, the priority during the emergency is the safe evacuation and shelter of those in harm’s way, so we are mobilizing rapidly to avert the serious health complications that arise rapidly if not addressed,” said President and CEO Thomas Tighe.
The organization had $779 million in revenues in 2016.
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