Hurricane Dorian was the strongest tropical cyclone ever to strike the Bahamas, inflicting a humanitarian crisis and US$ 3.4 billion damage.

As soon as the news broke, the MSC Group committed to supporting both the immediate relief response and longer-term recovery efforts, establishing its own dedicated Global Task Force to organise $5 million of vital aid and deliver its first 19 containers of humanitarian relief just 8 days after Dorian hit.

 

Wide-ranging immediate humanitarian relief

The remaining 165 relief containers arrived soon after, bringing water, rice, generators, building materials, tools, furniture, mattresses and medical supplies. What’s more, MSC shipped, stored in Freeport and passed over for distribution more than 250 further containers of humanitarian relief, all either shipped free or discounted into Freeport and stacked free of charge in the container terminal, while also providing logistics support for others’ hurricane relief efforts.

 

An unwavering long-term recovery commitment

Hard on the heels of this first responder relief, MSC Foundation announced a $500,000 long-term rebuilding support package, including three large waste removal trailers to clear debris, 10 containers of high-grade ceramic tiles, and the donation to the government of 20 container housing units, which will from July 2020 rehome vulnerable families who lost everything to the hurricane.

 

About the MSC Foundation

The MSC Foundation works to restore the critical balance between people and nature, utilising MSC’s global reach and unique knowledge of the sea to take immediate action to protect and nurture the blue planet and its peoples. MSC Foundation has strong connections with the Bahamas and has partnered with a panel of conservation experts to restore and nurture the coral beds around Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve, populated by some of the world’s most vulnerable coral species.