International Medical Corps is monitoring Hurricane Matthew—currently a Category 4 storm—and has put an emergency response team on standby to respond if needed. The storm is currently packing winds of 140 miles per hour off the coast of Colombia. It is expected to move northwest toward Jamaica over the next 48 hours.
The Government of Colombia issued a tropical storm warning, while the National Hurricane Center advised Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and eastern Cuba to follow Hurricane Matthew closely. Forecasts suggest that the storm could cause heavy rains and flooding on those islands early next week.
International Medical Corps currently has programs in northern Haiti. Heavy deforestation puts many parts of the country at risk of landslides, while heavy rainfall and flooding exacerbate risks for cholera, typhoid, and malaria. The organization responded to the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010 and later that year to Hurricane Tomas and an outbreak of cholera.
A pre-eminent first responder for more than three decades, International Medical Corps has extensive experience providing medical care and other lifesaving relief in the aftermath of disasters, including Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013, the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.