Geneva — The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday (03/09) began assessing damage from Hurricane Dorian, a Category 5 storm that has damaged more than 13,000 houses across several island groups, especially the Bahamas. Some 30,000 persons are believed affected on the two islands most heavily impacted.   

Hurricane Dorian made landfall in the Bahamas after midnight Sunday with winds reaching 280km/h. Dorian is the worst hurricane to strike the island since 1935, ripping roofs off buildings, flipped cars and forced thousands to seek shelter in churches and public buildings.   

IOM is deploying staff to the island and liaising with its government and donor partners.   

Jan-Willem Wegdam, IOM Dominica’s Head of Office is expected to arrive in Bahamas later today. Wegdam was a team leader in IOM’s disaster relief and reconstruction efforts after twin storms, Irma and Maria hit Dominica, two weeks apart in 2017.   

In the wake of Hurricane Maria, IOM helped to rebuild hundreds of homes, repaired emergency shelters, trained teams of residents to respond to different emergencies by building capacity as emergency radio operators and shelter managers among other skills.   

In the months that followed, IOM held disaster preparedness sessions in 16 communities and also worked in local schools to prepare students in response methods for future emergencies.   

Watch here and here.

For more information please contact Joel Millman, IOM Geneva, Tel. + 41 79 103 8720. Email: Jmillman@iom.int