By Carina Mouradian

On September 28th, 2016, Hurricane Matthew formed near the Windward Islands. It left a path of destruction as it passed the Caribbean, then moved to the Southeast United States.

In the United States, at least 15 people died and many more were wounded. New homes and buildings that were destroyed are being rebuilt by organizations such as World Vision, UNICEF, Operation Blessing International, etc. Many people have started picking up the pieces this hurricane destroyed, as lives are in shambles. Krishnadev Calamur, who works for The Atlantic said, “The President, in his emergency declaration, ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local efforts in the state.”

The hurricane didn’t hit Florida directly although if it had, the damage would have been much worse. More than 1.5 million people were evacuated from Florida and about 1 million lost power. In Georgia, the storm caused floods and power outages across the state. In Charlestown, South Carolina, they faced a 6-foot storm surge with a destructive flood as well as a destroyed environment. In North Carolina at least 7 people have died, and 760,000 have no power.

Outside of the United States, there were warnings for Jamaica, Eastern Cuba, Eastern and Central Bahamas as well as Haiti and eventually, they all were hit. In Haiti, over 900 people have died and 2.1 million people have been affected. In the areas in southern Haiti, about 90% of them have been completely destroyed. Since there is a lack of clean drinking water, the threat of a cholera epidemic has exponentially increased. Houses, plantations and livestocks, have been completely destroyed by Hurricane Matthew in Haiti as well as the other places it hit. And still, the number of death is increasing everyday.

Many organizations have started to find ways to help. Senior Louise Malmgren, a member of the Red Cross Club, expressed that they are in need of volunteers that can help provide “sheltering, feeding, and distribution of supplies for clean-up,”. Hurricane Matthew’s had devastating effects and we need to all come together and help out our neighbors in need.