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looking at damaged health facilities.

PAHO pledged health sector infrastructure and public health support and is acting quickly with
the support of the Ministry of Health to assess needs and damage assessments. An Incident
Management System has been established in the country office. PAHO’s Disaster Response

Team is supporting the Ministry of Health in all areas of the response and is expected to launch
a funding appeal in the coming days.

Due to floodwaters and potential contamination with sewage and lack of safe water, the risk of

diarrheal and waterborne diseases is high. Rand Memorial Hospital in Grand Bahama is flooded
and supplies damaged, and other clinics on Grand Bahama and New Providence are also
flooded. Patient evacuations will be needed and supplies from PAHO’s Panama Regional
Warehouse are on standby.

PAHO used its extensive experience in emergency preparedness to improve disaster relief

operations, setting up the structures to deploy emergency teams to support public health
measures. Bahamas is the first Caribbean country to apply the WHO CICOM international
standards to coordinate clinical care in disasters.

With many health centers flooded and unable to receive patients, a full hospital-capable
Emergency Medical Team from Samaritans Purse is arriving in the Bahamas today for a three-
month stay. The team includes six physicians and two surgeons, 16 nurses, two
anesthesiologists, allied health personnel, and logistics and management staff. It brought 34
tons of medical equipment and tents to set up operations in Grand Bahama.

Another Emergency Medical Team from Team Rubicon was deployed to Abaco today for a 15-
day mission. Abaco aerial surveillance shows vast devastation to the island’s infrastructure.
Communications are being restored but there is still no electricity on the island, and water,
sanitation and food have been identified as critical needs, according to PAHO’s Emergency

Operations Center. Over 1,200 people are reported in various shelters in Great Abaco and
Grand Bahama and an additional 800 are sheltering at Marsh Harbour Clinic.

A third Emergency Medical Team from Humanity First is expected to arrive tomorrow, and the
Ministry of Health has designated Dr. Christa Well, medical officer in the emergency service of
Princess Margaret Hospital, as the coordinator of the emergency teams. Dr. Well was one of 20

experts who were trained by PAHO in Barbados earlier this year. All the emergency teams are