AmeriCares Responding to Deadly Twisters in the U.S.

STAMFORD, Conn., May 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AmeriCares is delivering medical aid, bottled water and other critically needed relief supplies to communities across the South devastated by the worst U.S. disaster since Hurricane Katrina.

AmeriCares is sending medicines and medical supplies, including prescription medications for chronically ill patients, to clinics in Arkansas and Mississippi treating tornado survivors without health insurance.  In Smithville, Miss., a small town near the Alabama border decimated by last week's storms, AmeriCares is rushing critically needed relief supplies including medicines, cleaning supplies for residents trying to salvage the remains of their homes and hygiene products for families left homeless.  AmeriCares emergency response worker E.T. Theotokatos, who was in Smithville this weekend assessing the damage from the EF-5 tornado – the most powerful category of twister on record – said the needs were evident everywhere he went.

"I could count only four standing structures. Everything else seemed vaporized," he said.  "A whole trailer park had been whisked away.  The town hall – destroyed.  An elementary school –  flattened.  The police station –  gone.  And house after house was reduced to rubble.  AmeriCares will be there to help the community recover from this tragic disaster as residents rebuild their homes and their lives."

AmeriCares is working with Nestle Waters North America and Feeding America to deliver over 265,000 bottles of water to food banks and shelters aiding tornado survivors in Alabama and Tennessee.  AmeriCares also recently delivered bottled water to Indiana and Missouri for residents affected by flooding and to emergency crews fighting wildfires in Texas.  Additionally, for North Carolina, which was battered by tornadoes in mid-April, AmeriCares delivered a shipment of bottled water and over $90,000 worth of medical aid for the Helping Hands Clinic in Sanford, N.C.

AmeriCares has been responding to natural and man-made disasters around the world for nearly 30 years, saving lives and restoring health and hope.  AmeriCares also supports more than 300 health clinics serving the uninsured and underinsured across the U.S. on an ongoing basis with deliveries of medicines and medical supplies.  Donations to AmeriCares U.S. Disaster Relief Fund will support the organization's tornado response in the South.  To donate, go to www.AmeriCares.org or call 1(800) 486-HELP.

About AmeriCares

AmeriCares is a nonprofit global health and disaster relief organization which delivers medicines, medical supplies and aid to people in need around the world and across the United States.  Since it was established in 1982, AmeriCares has distributed more than $10 billion in humanitarian aid to 147 countries.  For more information, visit www.AmeriCares.org.

CONTACT:
Donna Porstner:  203-658-9579
[email protected]

SOURCE AmeriCares