Samaritan’s Purse is setting up community water filtration systems and providing a variety of emergency supplies.
The Samaritan’s Purse DC-8 flew to Puerto Rico from Greensboro, North Carolina, on Monday delivering more than 26 tons of emergency supplies to the island devastated by Hurricane Fiona.
Our DC-8 aircraft landed in Puerto Rico today transporting a second load of water filtration systems and other emergency supplies.
Hundreds of thousands of people are still without normal access to power and water more than a week after the storm made landfall.
The cargo plane was stocked with additional water filtration systems, jerry cans and buckets, mud-out kits, and 1,550 solar lights. This marks our second airlift to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona; we chartered a plane to deliver a similar load of supplies (including tarps) on Friday, Sept. 23, as well.
Our Disaster Assistance Response Team on the ground has already set up two community water systems to help those in need. One is in Guanica and the other is in the mountainous region of Yauco. Living days without easy access to clean water is a difficult burden, and residents were grateful to have a regular supply again.
Local church partners are helping us distribute shelter materials to residents.
Tarps are already being distributed in coordination with local church partners.
Samaritan’s Purse mounted a robust response five years ago when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico as a strong Category 4 storm.
We carried out dozens of airlifts to bring in emergency supplies and helped more than 300,000 people. We also set up a long-term presence and assisted with rebuilding.
We were working on the island, a U.S. territory, from Sept. 2017 through mid-2019. We continue to work with pastors and churches with whom we developed trusted relationships.
Please pray for our team on the ground as they work in Jesus’ Name and set up more water systems. Please pray that those who are suffering would receive the physical help they urgently need and they would embrace the hope—for today and for eternity—that is found only in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our teams are establishing water filtration systems where people have lost access after Hurricane Fiona.
