“We could hear the wind under our bed,” the memory of Fiona’s passage through the Dominican Republic
The passage of Hurricane Fiona left serious damage in the Dominican Republic.
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It was 3 o’clock in the morning when Vickiana, her three children and her grandson had to take shelter under the bed to protect themselves from the strong gusts of wind. Today, Vickiana observes the traces of the storm in the place where her house used to be – now destroyed.
The most vulnerable population in the east of the Dominican Republic has been most affected by the fury of the winds and rains unleashed by Hurricane Fiona, which in the evening hours of Sunday, September 18, had already been declared category 2, and which at approximately 4 o’clock in the morning on Monday the 19th, entered the Dominican territory, with maximum sustained winds of 155 km/h (100 m/h).
The hurricane, which hit the Caribbean Island, forced 43,000 people to abandon their homes, and left two people dead and 28 communities isolated, in addition to affecting the water and electricity supply.
According to UNICEF estimates, more than 1.7 million people, including 660,000 boys and girls, are at risk after the passage of Hurricane Fiona in the Dominican Republic.
A week after the natural catastrophe, Vickiana continues to wash and dry clothes and belongings in the same place where her house used to be, located on the banks of the Yuma River, where she lived with her three children, a grandson and her husband.
“All my mattresses got wet, I had to leave them there, out in the open, because I have nowhere to put them. I was able to save some things, but others were damaged, and we don’t have the money to rebuild our house,” says Vickiana.
With just a few walls left, it’s hard to make out where the rooms of his 20 year old daughter, Luisania, his 17 and 11 year old sons Edgar and Keruin, and his 1 year old grandson Brainiel used to be. In addition to the winds, the family saw the river rise for the first time. Now, after the channel has recovered its usual extension, some of the objects that were dragged by the water can be found entangled between palm leaves and debris.
After the passage of the hurricane, the family had to stay at Vickiana’s mother’s house, where there are also other relatives, who also lost their home due to the hurricane.
The dawn of that fateful Monday was etched in the memory of Vickiana and her children. “It was a scary night. A lot of breeze, many trees fell, you could hear the wind and the zinc flying (…) I went out with the kids, all together under the water and that wind that hardly allowed us to move. It was something terrifying, we were very scared, especially with the children, with the baby,” says Vickiana.
“It was so strong that we had to leave, the situation did not calm down. My mother was there under a table, and we were in the room under the bed,” Edgar remembers; he is 17 years old and has not yet been able to return to the school – he’s in high school..
After the storm
Vickiana and her family’s situation is repeated in various locations; there are many families who lost their homes due to the winds, the rain and the flooding of the river during the passage of Hurricane Fiona.
UNICEF, in coordination with the national authorities and together with its allies, has arrived at the scene to assist the families, channeling the needs of the population with provincial and national authorities.
Luisana Joseph, Director of the Civil Defense in San Rafael de Yuma, began her intervention during the days before the hurricane, communicating with the households at risk so that their members could move to the authorized shelters, and thus prevent greater disasters.
Today, the first responder continues to provide assistance after the storm, helping to rehabilitate homes and distribute food, medicine, clothing and construction items.
“The situation in our community is really terrible, the hurricane entered through Boca de Yuma, we were very affected, many had to leave their homes, a lot of houses were totally and partially destroyed. Our job as Civil Defense is to prevent; we went to the homes before the cyclone entered, but people are always reluctant, because they are attached to their property, to their little houses, and then they refuse to leave,” she said.
The actions that are currently being carried out aim to return normality to families: “We are working on sanitizing the houses, managing so that they begin to recover. We are also taking people to shelters so that they can help them in one way or another, so that they can return to their normality, and we can get up again – that is our situation at the moment.”
The UNICEF team joins national efforts to support affected families and provide access to safe water, as well as nutritional care to the most vulnerable populations.
This includes the distribution of 700 hygiene kits, more than a thousand plastic drums with drinking water, and the delivery of 100 water tanks to be installed in community centers as temporary supply systems.
Care will be provided for treatment and early detection of malnutrition in boys and girls, children under five, pregnant and breastfeeding women. Support will also be provided to overcome the trauma: “We are going to work on everything related to psycho-affective, psycho-emotional recovery, and the prevention of abuse and violence,” added Magdalena Martínez who supports UNICEF’s emergency response.
To contribute to the continuity of children’s education, even in emergency situations, “we are providing support so that all the supplies and materials that, as you have seen, many children have lost at this time are recovered,” Martinez concluded.
