7th September 2019
After first receiving the news of the devastation being caused by Hurricane Dorian across the Bahamas late last week Aquabox moved swiftly into planning how best we could respond to this major disaster.
The hurricane centred itself over Grand Bahama and the outlying islands, and stayed there for a number of days, wreaking havoc to the island communities, before moving north towards the Carolinas in the USA.
Aquabox has been in contact with the Rotary Clubs in Nassau and Freetown (capital of Grand Bahama) as well as linking up with local companies based on Grand Bahama, in order to carry out a needs assessment and determine the most effective way to support the impacted island communities. We have also been working with our fellow Rotary water charity, Water Survival Box, to share intelligence and assess whether a joint response would have a bigger impact.
From these discussions, we understand that there is a great need for safe drinking water, particularly in the eastern end of Grand Bahama and the outlying islands notably, Abaco.
A major challenge has been transportation, since the majority of the airports on the islands are closed due to hurricane damage. We working with our partners and Rotarians on the ground to look at alternative options as we seek to build a secure supply and distribution route into eastern Grand Bahama and Abaco.
To overcome these transportation challenges, we are exploring a plan to send aid to southern Florida, where one of our corporate partners has offered to provide onward transport to the Bahamian islands and assist with distribution of the water filters.
A consignment of Aqua 12s and Community Filters has been prepared at the Aquabox depot and this consignment will meet the water needs of 7000 to 8000 people. This consignment will be despatched from the depot once we are satisfied that we have a secure supply and distribution route to the communities worst affected by Hurricane Dorian.
Following this initial shipment, we are already provisionally planning for further shipments of Aquabox humanitarian aid (Gold Boxes and additional Aquafilters) to be sent to the worst affected communities as families begin to rebuild their lives after this catastrophic event.
We rely totally on donations and the kind generosity of our supporters. Please help us if you can to help those in need. Thank you.