The Rolling Sunlight is still powering the main hub for seven community relief stations, including two major depots of goods set up in gyms. Our field kitchen is set up next to the RS, serving hot meals. The community and workers have really coalesced around the RS and tonight’s community meeting was full of gratitude and heartfelt thanks.
As far as the day to day, the dust has begun to settle literally and figuratively. We have a stable setup to provide food and goods, and are trying to get other needs attended to.
We have been given a store front across from the main hub which we have completely stripped, cleaned, and and built into a clinic, which is now the only dedicated medical space in the area. The clinic will be staffed by volunteer doctors and EMS, and has respirators and ionizers, a big need not being met elsewhere. With a storefront the volunteer doctors will know they have an organized place to see patients, put equipment, deliver medications and supplies, etc.
The storm is supposed to come in tomorrow with 50 mph winds. FEMA arrived yesterday and has set up shelters, so lets hope everyone rides it out in safety.
I can’t really overstate the destruction; the station we are operating from is bordered by a half block of smouldering rubble. The high water line reaches 3-4 feet up most walls, meaning the floors and walls of all structures are soaked and beginning to decay. As one man told me “It’s night of the living dead over here.” They finally stopped a gas leak from the rubble today, and we were able to light charcoal grills, which was the only way to cook until late today, when the other GP team delivered propane stoves. Everywhere people have lost everything. They come to the station looking for pants, socks, and blankets, just to keep warm. The surrounding highrises are full of elderly who can’t leave or find water.
