THE BAHAMAS HURRICANE RELIEF UPDATE DECEMBER 2020
TOTAL PROGRAM IMPACT
2,294 501
Current Situation
LIVES IMPACTED
VOLUNTEERS
7,959
VOLUNTEER DAYS
207
JOBS COMPLETED
Progress continues apace at Every Child Counts School (ECC); our team is aiming to complete three of the buildings before the first DM12 volunteer cohort departs on December 12. Final touch up work is being carried out in the residence building, the training center and Seydel Hall, with volunteers focusing on painting, siding and soffit repair, fixing handrails and plastering the foundation. Our next project at ECC is to rebuild the Convent building (full demolition and reconstruction). Our Program Development Team is working on the designs and plans and our second DM12 cohort will start the work in January. Our Program Development Team is also customizing our Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for roofing to ensure resiliency for the specific conditions in The Bahamas, in addition to meeting building codes, so we can expand our response and recovery work on homes to include roof repairs and rebuilds in 2021.
Community Voices When Hurricane Dorian hit The Bahamas, Keva was living in a property in Dundas Town, Great Abaco, with her dad and other family members. Their entire neighborhood was submerged by the storm surge and Keva’s home remained underwater for some time. Keva evacuated to Nassau after Dorian and only returned to Abaco in March 2020. She’s currently living in the shop where she used to work, while our volunteers support her family with debris removal at their home. Left photo: part of the large debris pile volunteers collected from Keva’s property.
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allhandsandhearts.org
Disaster Profile On September 1, 2019, Hurricane Dorian made landfall as a Category 5 storm in The Bahamas with wind speeds in excess of 185 mph, 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. Over 76,000 people have been affected and 10,000 children displaced from schools. Dorian is the strongest hurricane on record for The Bahamas and tied a record for the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall.
Our Work During the first six months, our focus was on response capacity in some of the hardest-hit areas. After a six month COVID-19 suspension, our long-term recovery program is now targeting reconstruction in schools and critical community infrastructure, while continuing to work on roofs, mucking and gutting, debris removal and mold sanitation within homes. With immense support from our local and global partners, we’re committed to performing continuous work in The Bahamas for the next year.
About All Hands and Hearts We effectively and efficiently address the immediate and long-term needs of communities impacted by natural disasters. We communicate directly with local leaders and community members and then deploy our unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, helping to build safer, more resilient schools, homes and infrastructure. We have earned a 4-star rating by Charity Navigator six years in a row and a Perfect 100. Less than one percent of rated nonprofits have received this distinction for financial and operational efficiency.
Our Partners in The Bahamas
info@allhandsandhearts.org