Hurricane Otis: One Year Later

Just over one year ago, Hurricane Otis made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane over southwestern Mexico’s Port of Acapulco. The storm, the first Pacific hurricane to make landfall as a Category 5 storm, battered coastal and nearby mountainous regions in Guerrero State with destructive winds and heavy rainfall, causing widespread flooding and landslides and affecting more than 930,000 people in Acapulco, Coyuca de Benitez, and five other municipalities in Guerrero, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In the aftermath of the storm, officials confirmed at least 52 storm-related deaths, as well as considerable damage to critical infrastructure, such as bridges and roadways, nearly 275,000 houses, and 120 health facilities. In addition, the storm caused extensive disruptions to essential services, including communications, power, medical and other supply chains, as well as municipal water supply systems, leaving Guerrero’s population among the poorest in the country with more than 66 percent of residents living in poverty and more than 25 percent living in extreme poverty with limited access to food, essential medicines, and safe drinking water.

In response, Direct Relief immediately deployed a team of emergency response personnel to Guerrero to assess the humanitarian situation and coordinate and deliver requested aid, including emergency health kits, field medic backpacks, and fuel, to healthcare providers and first responders. Direct Relief also provided financial assistance to Medical IMPACT, a Mexico-based nonprofit that provides medical care for those in disaster situations and low-resource settings, to augment mobile health services and community outreach in hard-to-reach rural communities, including the mountainous regions surrounding Acapulco.

With cleanup and recovery efforts continuing months following Hurricane Otis, the region faced a new, growing public health threat a spike in cases of dengue fever, a viral infection transmitted by mosquitos that can cause high fevers, body aches, and other symptoms, with severe cases requiring hospitalization. Though dengue is endemic in Mexico and the country, like many others across Latin America and the Caribbean, was already grappling with a nationwide surge in 2024 compared to previous years, dengue cases nationwide had begun to drop following a late September peak, according to the Government of Mexico Ministry of Health. In Guerrero, however, epidemiological data indicated a secondary spike starting in mid-November, weeks after the storm’s passage, attributable to the lingering debris and standing floodwaters that had become a breeding ground for mosquitos.

As the acute phase of the emergency transitioned to longer-term recovery, Direct Relief continued to augment capacities to respond to the health needs resulting from Hurricane Otis, while bolstering state-level preparedness for future emergencies. Meanwhile, Direct Relief increased support for dengue prevention and treatment and helped to reestablish the state’s cold chain capacity, ensuring healthcare providers across Guerrero have the capacity to receive and store temperature-sensitive medications and vaccinations.

Direct Relief’s Response – By the Numbers

The information included in this report, by necessity, includes unaudited figures because the organization’s formal audit coincides with its fiscal year, which is from July 1 to June 30. Audited figures for this period will be included when that audit and report are completed. Numbers are as of October 30, 2024.

In the year since the hurricane, Direct Relief has provided nearly $1.65 million in medical aid and $185,000 in financial assistance to support the restoration of essential health services in Guerrero.

Augmenting Capacities to Respond to Hurricane Otis and Future Emergencies

To augment capacities to meet the increased needs following Hurricane Otis and bolster preparedness for future emergencies, Direct Relief delivered 14 Emergency Health Kits, each containing sufficient medicines, medical supplies, and equipment to meet the critical healthcare needs of as many as 1,000 patients for one month following an emergency, to local and national government agencies, as well as humanitarian partners, engaged in emergency response and health service delivery. Direct Relief also provided approximately 200 Emergency Medical Backpacks to equip first responders, search and rescue teams, and mobile health providers with the supplies they need to meet a variety of prevalent disaster-related medical issues, including infection control, diagnostics, trauma care, and personal protection tools.

Additionally, Direct Relief coordinated closely with representatives from the States of Baja California and Guerrero, to deliver a 50-bed field hospital kit donated by the State of California. This modularized kit, capable of being fully operational within 24 hours of identified need, enables Guerrero state authorities to rapidly augment hospital capacity to meet heightened needs during emergencies.

Supporting Efforts to Curb Dengue Transmission, Provide Palliative Care

To prevent and control dengue transmission, Direct Relief partnered with Guerrero’s Secretariat of Health to provide thermal fogging equipment and insecticide intended for use in identified mosquito breeding hot spots ahead of the May–October rainy season. Direct Relief also provided 1.5 metric tons of medical supplies, including acetaminophen for adults and children, mosquito-repellent wipes and spray, oral rehydration salts, and thermometers, to help mitigate the spread of dengue and reduce dehydration, fever, and pain among those who have contracted it. The supplies, delivered to Guerrero’s Centro Regulador de Urgencias Médicas, were integrated into the state’s strategic reserve for emergency and disaster response.

Helping to Reestablish Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Capacity

Hurricane Otis caused extensive damage to health centers and hospitals in and around Acapulco, destroying much of the state’s pharmaceutical cold chain capacity. To ensure healthcare providers across Guerrero have the capacity to receive and store temperature-sensitive medications, such as insulin, vaccinations, and dengue testing samples, Direct Relief delivered 10 Helmer refrigerators and two Helmer ultra-cold freezers, as well as two portable organ transplant refrigerators, to Guerrero’s Centro Regulador de Urgencias Médicas. The units were distributed to 11 locations across Guerrero’s seven health jurisdictions.

Cumulatively, these efforts resulted in the delivery of more than 80 metric tons of medical aid and supplies to the following organizations:

• Asociación Mexicana de Diabetes en el Estado de Guerrero, A.C.
• Medical IMPACT Impact Outreach A.C.
• Ayuntamiento Municipal de Acapulco de Juárez
• Secretaría de Defensa Nacional
• Federación Mexicana de Diabetes A.C.
• Servicios Estatales de Salud de Guerrero
• Fundación Mexicana para la Planeación Familiar, A.C.
• Un Kilo de Ayuda A.C.
• Hospital General Dr. Raymundo Abarca Alarcó

In addition to material aid, Direct Relief provided $185,000 to humanitarian partner Medical IMPACT
to augment mobile health services and community outreach in hard-to-reach rural communities. With this support, Medical IMPACT deployed teams of physicians on several medical missions to the region, providing emergency health services to rural communities that face significant barriers to accessing health services.

Looking Forward

Less than a year after Hurricane Otis devastated the Acapulco region, Hurricane John struck a larger area with record amounts of rain. The investments made and relationships established with federal and state authorities, as well as humanitarian partners, during the Hurricane Otis response laid the groundwork for Direct Relief and other response actors to respond swiftly to the humanitarian and health needs resulting from the hurricane, including through the deployment of Direct Relief-donated emergency response supplies from the state’s strategic reserve for emergency and disaster response immediately following the storm’s landfall.

The success of Direct Relief’s collaboration with state authorities, such as Guerrero’s Centro Regulador de Urgencias Médicas, was critical to the emergency responses to both Hurricane Otis and John and has paved the path for continued collaboration on emergency preparedness efforts across the state.

As the long-term recovery from Hurricane Otis and John continues, Direct Relief remains committed to ensuring federal- and state-level authorities, as well as humanitarian partners, have access to the medicines and medical supplies they need before, during, and after a disaster strikes.