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Dorian – Atlantic Ocean: Global Bank Response to Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas and How You Can Help

Los Angeles, CA – September 7, 2019 – Hurricane Dorian was the most powerful tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas and is regarded as the worst natural disaster in the country's history. It was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and the first major hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. Global Bank assists those affected by Hurricane Dorian. Here is how you can help.

SITUATION OVERVIEW
Hurricane Dorian was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and the first major hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. Dorian formed on August 24, 2019 from a tropical wave in the Central Atlantic and gradually strengthened, becoming a hurricane on August 28. Rapid intensification occurred, and on August 31, Dorian became a Category 4 hurricane. On September 1, Dorian reached Category 5 intensity, with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph, while making landfall in Elbow Cay, Bahamas. Dorian made another landfall on Grand Bahama several hours later.

Hurricane Dorian hit Grand Bahama Island as an incredibly powerful Category 5 hurricane on Sunday night with howling 185 mile-per-hour winds. Then it stalled over the island. For nearly two days, Dorian moved at just 1 mile per hour, subjecting Grand Bahamas to intense hurricane conditions. Reported wind gusts blew up to 220 mph — strong enough to blow a roof off a house. The storm generated 18 to 23 feet of coastal flooding from storm surge, and NASA estimated more than 3 feet of rain fell.

On September 4, 2019, following the terrible devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian in the northern Bahamas, the Global Bank Group1 President Ron Nechemia () expressed his concern for the tens of thousands of people affected in the Grand Bahamas and Abaco on Monday. He shared his deep concerns, “Thousands of displaced people are living in 'rapidly deteriorating' conditions in the worst-hit parts of the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian made landfall.”

A satellite image from Iceye, a commercial satellite operator, shows the massive flooding on the island. Only one sliver of land was not flooded.

 

KEY ELEMENTS

  • Following the passage of Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 hurricane, from 1-3 September on Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, the Government of The Bahamas revised the death toll to 43 on 6 September: 35 people died in Abaco Islands and eight in Grand Bahama. Many remain missing, and the number of casualties is expected to increase.
  • The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has registered approximately 4,800 evacuees in New Providence (Nassau), where some 1,650 are located in shelters and receive much-needed assistance.
  • The Global Bank Group, its Affiliates, Affiliated Specialized Agencies, Funds, and Programmes, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations are supporting the government-led response, under the leadership of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and in close coordination with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).
  • Pre-impact projections based on available data suggest urgent needs in water, food, shelter, and early recovery. However, many of these projections are subject to post-impact verification once the Government issues an all-clear.
  • Relief assistance to respond to the most urgent needs is arriving in Nassau and dispatched to affected areas, including 14,700 individual meals-ready-to-eat from the World Food Program, which arrived on 6 September and were immediately delivered to the islands.

The President of the Global Bank Group Ron Nechemia extends his condolences on behalf of the Bank Group, its Affiliates, Affiliated Specialized Agencies, Funds, and Programmes to all those in the Bahamas who have lost loved ones. We stand with the communities affected by the devastating impact of Hurricane Dorian.

Videos and images have started to trickle out of the storm-battered Bahamas from photojournalists and locals on social media. They reveal islands torn to shreds, and whole homes washed out to sea. (At the bottom of this story, find links about how you can help the Bahamas.) Here’s what they see so far:

These Photos Show the Devastation Caused by a Catastrophic Climate Disaster

CNN captures footage of the devastation left in the path of cyclone Dorian.

Early Recovery and Transition from Relief to Development
The Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund – An Umbrella Trust Fund has the mandate for coordinating the Global Bank Group relief efforts globally. These relief efforts include: (a) bringing risk reduction investments to the scale necessary to enable countries to achieve the Sendai Framework targets by 2030 and prevent disasters undermining progress on the Sustainable Development Goals; (b) supporting client countries to implement the resilience objectives specified in their Nationally Determined Contributions; and (c) to support the implementation of the Global Climate Agreement in Paris, and prevent disasters undermining progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.

To learn more about Global Bank and the Global Bank Humanitarian Financing and how they provide life-saving support to communities in need, please click HERE.

HOW YOU CAN HELP the Bahamas
The world is nearing a point at which the number of crises outpaces its ability to cope with the consequences. Millions of lives have been shattered every year by disasters such as drought, storms, earthquakes, landslides, and heatwaves that unleash dramatic levels of devastation. Although disasters are quick to strike, their consequences can linger for months and years.

When disasters occur anywhere in the world, remarkably giving people such as yourself offer generous assistance to those in need. Decades of experience in disaster relief and recovery have shown that the best way to help people affected by disaster is to make cash donations to an organization or program that have the highest likelihood of achieving a positive outcome on the target population by supporting early recovery and transition from relief to development. The Global Bank Group works closely with affected communities and knows what people need and how to strengthen recovery efforts.

The Global Bank Central Emergency Response Fund
The Global Bank Central Emergency Response Fund (GB-CERF) is a humanitarian fund established by the Global Bank Group in 2018. It was designed to spearhead the Global Bank Group's efforts to address natural and man-made humanitarian emergencies and work toward longer-term recovery. Its purpose is to ensure a more predictable, flexible, and timely response to complex humanitarian emergencies.  The objectives of GB-CERF is to promote early action and response to reduce the loss of life, enhance response to time-critical requirements and to strengthen Global Bank Group’s core elements of humanitarian response in underfunded crises, based on demonstrable needs and priorities identified in consultation with the affected State as appropriate.

The GB-CERF Financing
The Global Bank Central Emergency Response Fund is funded through voluntary contributions. While the Global Bank Central Emergency Response Fund receives the bulk of its funding from governments, it also garners wide-range support from foundations, companies, charities, and individuals.

Support Us
Please support global relief efforts by donating to the Global Bank Central Emergency Response Fund and allow humanitarian agencies to help people in need quickly and effectively. Your donation to the Global Bank Central Emergency Response Fund will be channeled through the Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund – An Umbrella Trust Fund.

The Global Bank Central Emergency Response Fund seeks $5 Million to Scale-Up Help to ramp up the humanitarian response to Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas. The bulk of the funding will kickstart the response in the worst-hit areas of the Bahamas.

To support the Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund – An Umbrella Trust Fund, please click HERE.

To learn more about the Global Bank Humanitarian Financing and how it provides life-saving support to communities in need, please click HERE.

 
1Global Bank Group, consisting of five institutions, represents, develops and supports the collective interests of its business interests around the world. One of these institutions is The Bank for International Development and Reconstruction known as the Global Bank,(“BIDR,” “Global Bank,” or “Bank”).  Global Bank is a full-fledged private sector global development bank, in formation, with legal and regulatory rights including formal approval to utilize the term "Bank" pending – the world’s second global development bank – positioned next to the World Bank and the preeminent regional development banks (MDBs).  The Bank for International Development and Reconstruction borrows in the international capital markets.

 

Release Date: 
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
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