AmeriCare: Assistance Being Sent To Oklahoma City Area

The AmeriCares warehouse in Stamford, CT, stocked with medicines and relief supplies.
The AmeriCares warehouse in Stamford, CT, stocked with medicines and relief supplies.

Posted by Heidi Schwartz

As search and rescue operations continue after a massive EF-5 tornado shattered a southern suburb of Oklahoma City, a team of disaster relief experts from AmeriCares has deployed to the region to assess urgent needs and coordinate deliveries of emergency aid for victims of the heartbreaking disaster. The aid organization has reached out to health clinics, food banks, and nonprofit organizations in the region with offers of assistance.

“The early hours of an emergency are the most critical,” explained AmeriCares Vice President of Emergency Response, Garrett Ingoglia. “We keep a stock of targeted medicines, family emergency kits and relief supplies on hand to help partner clinics in disaster-prone areas, so we are ready to respond quickly.”

The death toll continues to mount in the aftermath of the deadly twister, which flattened hundreds of homes and buildings, and damaged hundreds more, including an elementary school and a medical center. A state of emergency has been declared, the Oklahoma National Guard has been deployed.

AmeriCares is reaching out to its extensive network of free clinics and community health centers in Oklahoma along with shelters and other nonprofit organizations in the area to help injured and displaced victims with deliveries of acute and chronic care medicines and relief supplies. As an initial step, the organization is working with Nestlé Waters North America and Feeding America to bring bottled water to food banks in the region to support displaced people and first responders.

For more information, or to donate to AmeriCares U.S. Disaster Relief Fund, go to americares.org