Response to Smoke from Canadian Fires, Dispatches from Ukraine Dam Explosion, and More

Smoky air hovered over downtown Philadelphia this week, as many cities across the U.S. experienced poor air quality from wildfires burning in Canada. Direct Relief is shipping N95 masks, respiratory medications, eye drops and more to health facilities in impacted communities. (Heather Bennett/Direct Relief)
By Brianna Newport

Over the past seven days, Direct Relief has delivered 474 shipments of requested medical aid to 44 U.S. states and territories and twelve countries worldwide.

The shipments contained 10.4 million defined daily doses of medication, including prenatal vitamins, naloxone, PPE, antibiotics and more.

Responding to Smoke from Canadian Fires

In response to widespread smoke impacts in U.S. cities in the Northeast and Midwest, Direct Relief has dispatched shipments of medical aid to health centers in New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, with more to come. Air purifiers, N95 masks, respiratory and ophthalmic medications are bound for health centers in smoke-impacted areas.

To understand the spread of smoke from the wildfires burning in Canada, Direct Relief created a map that illustrates how a wildfire’s impact extends far beyond its burn perimeter. Smoke is now blanketing highly populated areas as far as 700 miles away, from Ottawa, Canada, to North Carolina, with severe health implications, particularly for children and older adults with pre-existing heart and lung disease, pregnant women, people who work outside, and people with low incomes.

Read more here.

The map above illustrates the number of heavy smoke days between June 1 and June 9, 2023. (Direct Relief)

Direct Relief will continue to respond as requested.

Responding to Dam Explosion in Ukraine

Direct Relief is currently responding to requests for medications and funding following the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine. Waters reportedly rose as much as 10 feet above normal levels in parts of the Kherson region, prompting a massive exodus of people.

Nick Allen, a program reporting analyst for Direct Relief, is in the region assessing needs and communicating health needs to local nonprofits that Direct Relief supports with medical supplies.

Read more here.

Residents of Antonivka, a town near the broken dam, bottle flood water to irrigate their home-grown vegetables on June 8, 2023. They have no guarantee of any other food, so they have to rely on their home produce to survive. (Nick Allen/Direct Relief)
Antonivka resident Ivan, 74, shows the extent of the flooding but says he will not leave and join his daughter in Poland: “I was born here, christened here, and I will stay here,” he said. (Nick Allen/Direct Relief)
Antonivka residents unload donations of water, food and clothing on June 8, 2023. (Nick Allen/Direct Relief)

earthquake response in Turkey and Syria

Direct Relief this week announced the latest round of financial support to local health providers and first responders in Turkey and Syria, $2 million in total, as the region continues to recover from a devastating series of earthquakes.

The death toll from the Feb. 6, 2023 earthquake has risen to more than 50,000, with more than 200,000 injured. Direct Relief is focused on mental health services and psychosocial support for people impacted by the quakes, maternal and child health, surgery services for those injured and needing rehabilitation, and bolstering primary care services.

Read more here.

Three months have passed since the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and Direct Relief remains committed to supporting local organizations’ continued response efforts. In coordination with the regional hub Adana Metropolitan Municipality and the Turkish Medical Association, Direct Relief has provided 1,000 hygiene kits and over 100 emergency medical backpacks to doctors and medical staff working in Hatay, the most affected district in Turkey. (Photo courtesy of Turkish Medical Association (Türk Tabipleri Birliği))

Direct Relief and oecs Renew Partnership

The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, or OECS, and Direct Relief have renewed their partnership for emergency preparation and response. Renewal of the original 2019 agreement will allow the two organizations to deepen their regionwide approach to helping small island nations in the Caribbean prepare for and respond to hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Warmer oceans caused by climate change have increased the severity of the hurricanes that batter the region year after year. The Caribbean experienced 70 named tropical cyclones across 19 countries between 1980 and 2019.

The original 2019 partnership agreement enabled Direct Relief to strengthen its emergency preparation and response capabilities across the Caribbean following 2017’s Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which devastated islands across the region. Direct Relief collaborated directly with the Ministries of Health in Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Dominica to respond to the 2017 hurricanes, leading to the broader partnership with the OECS.

OPERATIONAL SNAPSHOT

WORLDWIDE

This week, Direct Relief shipped 6.6 million defined daily doses of medication outside the U.S.

Countries that received medical aid over the past week included:

UNITED STATES

Direct Relief delivered 451 shipments containing more than 8.5 tons of medications over the past week to organizations, including the following:

YEAR-TO-DATE (GLOBAL)

Since Jan. 1, 2023, Direct Relief has delivered 7,945 shipments to 1,748 healthcare providers in 54 U.S. states and territories and 64 countries.

These shipments contained 260.2 million defined daily doses of medication valued at $863.3 million (wholesale), totaling 3.2 million lbs.

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