As Moore and other communities in Central Oklahoma continue to struggle in the aftermath of devastating tornadoes, AmeriCares emergency aid is helping families recover. Since the May 20 disaster, AmeriCares has provided more than $3.5 million in emergency assistance - enough to reach an estimated 20,000 people in need.

Our emergency response team continues to provide partners with aid shipments and funding to address the health care needs of survivors and responders.

“For survivors, access to quality medicines and health care can change a life,” explained Kate Dischino, AmeriCares emergency response manager.

Click here to see our interactive map

Less than 24 hours after the monstrous EF-5 twister touched down on May 20, our team arrived in the hard-hit suburb of Moore. Since then, we have provided 51 shipments of emergency medicines and relief supplies to help Moore, El Reno, Shawnee, and other communities devastated by a series of tornadoes and storms.

Our response includes:

• Tetanus vaccine: The risk of tetanus is high when residents and first responders sort through rubble and debris. We’ve shipped more than 11,500 doses of vaccine to health care organizations.
• More than 30,000 course treatments of medicine: including chronic disease meds, asthma and respiratory medications, nebulizers, insulin, diabetes supplies, and tetanus vaccine were delivered to partners to help fill urgent gaps.  Area health facilities sustained heavy damage, along with their stocks of crucial medicines and medical supplies.
• Thousands of diapers to help families with young children who have lost their homes and possessions in the storm were delivered to five partners on May 31.
• More than 260,000 units of non-medical relief items, including personal hygiene items, clean up supplies, first aid and more were delivered to organizations helping families who were displaced by the tornado.
• Medical field tents: We facilitated the donation of  military-style shelters from Alaska Structures to help emergency partners carry out critical response activities. Additional tents were donated to other organizations for distribution and storage of emergency aid, and medical and field team staging, intake and debriefing.
• Grants to support the deployment of medical teams to help people in affected neighborhoods, to assist disabled residents by replacing lost or damaged wheelchairs, ramps and mobility aids, and to replace lost or damaged medications.
• Three truckloads of bottled water: AmeriCares worked with partners Nestlé Waters North America and Feeding America to provide enough clean drinking water to help 2,571 survivors and first responders for one week.

Click here to read a blog post by Kate Dischino
describing the health care needs of survivors.Read More >>

While providing immediate relief for tornadoes that struck Oklahoma on May 19, the Moore tornado on May 20 and the El Reno tornado on May 31, AmeriCares coordinated with local non-profits and government agencies to assess and address longer term health needs.

As the Oklahoma communities deal with devastating loss, AmeriCares will provide continued support to help people facing a long and challenging recovery process.

Help AmeriCares bring aid to families in crisis as we respond to the Oklahoma City tornado.