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News publications and other organizations are encouraged to reuse Direct Relief-published content for free under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International), given the republisher complies with the requirements identified below.

When republishing:

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Republishing Images:

Unless stated otherwise, images shot by Direct Relief may be republished for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution, given the republisher complies with the requirements identified below.

  • Maintain correct caption information.
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Direct Relief often contracts with freelance photographers who usually, but not always, allow their work to be published by Direct Relief’s media partners. Contact Direct Relief for permission to use images in which Direct Relief is not credited in the caption by clicking here.

Other Requirements:

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For any additional questions about republishing Direct Relief content, please email the team here.

Hurricane Fiona Relief

Disaster Relief

Direct Relief will use all contributions designated for Hurricane Fiona solely for relief and recovery efforts related to Hurricane Fiona.

Direct Relief staff delivered a power generator to the home of a pediatric hospital patient who requires a 24/7 life-sustaining ventilator and other equipment in Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 20, 2022. (Brea Burkholz/Direct Relief)

Responding to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean

Widespread power outages and rising floodwaters resulted after Hurricane Fiona made landfall in Puerto Rico. Flood impacts are also being felt throughout the region.

Since Hurricane Maria made landfall five years ago, Direct Relief has installed backup power systems at health facilities on the island.

Emergency medicines, backup power and mobile health units are being dispatched across the island.

Direct Relief is responding to Hurricane Fiona by leaning into networks and relationships established during and before Hurricane Maria. Since the 2017 hurricane, Direct Relief established regional disaster response hub in Puerto Rico, and staff members are contacting health centers around the territory to assess needs from the most recent storm.

The organization is also in touch with health officials throughout the Caribbean to assess needs as the storm progresses.

Ahead of the storm

Ahead of the 2022 hurricane season, Direct Relief prepositioned 10 large caches of emergency medical supplies at health clinics across Puerto Rico. Each cache contains 1,680 lbs. of the medical items most needed in the wake of a disaster, including trauma supplies, antibiotics, and medications for diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic conditions. Health systems had opened at least three of the caches by Monday morning. Direct Relief also staged over 100 field medic backpacks full of emergency medical supplies.

Beyond Puerto Rico, emergency aid is prepositioned in Anguilla, the Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

rESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE

During the last five years, Direct Relief has facilitated more than 400 projects to strengthen Puerto Rico’s healthcare system through federally qualified health centers and many other local nonprofit organizations.

Direct Relief has furnished 93 health center sites across the island with 170 FDA-compliant pharmaceutical and laboratory refrigerators and freezers with enough capacity to store roughly 6 million vials of vaccines.

Twenty-five solar-powered water wells have been installed in independent community water supply systems not served by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority. Together, these wells provide access to clean drinking water to nearly 14,720 residents in remote areas.

Fire and EMS stations have also been outfitted with solar energy systems, allowing first-line workers to provide essential services during emergencies and power breakdowns.

Read more about Direct Relief’s work in Puerto Rico here.

DATA FOR DISASTER RESPONSE

When responding to disasters, early detection and early response lead to better outcomes in almost every case. Direct Relief has expanded its focus on bringing emergency data analysis into real-time through precision alerting platforms like Dataminr and Factal, real-time population dynamics data from the Meta platform to understand evacuation and displacement, and sensor data on fire, smoke, heat, hurricane winds, and storm surge from Esri’s Living Atlas.

By linking real-time data on disaster events and how communities respond to those events with baseline models on social vulnerability, hazards, and losses, Direct Relief can move quickly to provide the right assistance to the right places at the right time.

Hurricane Fiona Relief

100% of your contribution will be dedicated to Hurricane Fiona response efforts.