September 23, 2014 – Islamic Relief USA’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) has mobilized to provide recovery assistance to communities suffering from the effects of the recent floods in Detroit, Michigan.
Record breaking rains caused severe flooding in Detroit on August 11, 2014. The flooding took an unprecedented toll on the city’s infrastructure, leaving thousands without power, heat, and transportation. Many were forced to leave their homes. The floods were also responsible for several casualties.
The range of needs and the extent of the damage is only matched by the underfunding and lack of resources available to the people of Detroit. Islamic Relief USA’s services were requested to help fill the gap. The DART team began arriving Monday, September 22, 2014.
Damage assessment and meetings with local leaders have contributed to roughly 2,000 names on the assistance roster. The DART team intends their detailed home assessments and daily situation reports to be of use to other organizations on the ground. This is in the spirit of FEMA Administrator Craig Fuegate’s conviction that “No one agency can do it all, but if each does a part the community is better served.”
IRUSA has trained approximately 1,200 DART members to date around the United States, including Detroit, in Disaster Response. DART members work in concert with FEMA and other members of the Disaster Response Community locally.
IRUSA continues to strengthen its rapport as a leading disaster relief organization and represent the positive work being done in support of communities in crisis.
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Islamic Relief USA, based in Alexandria, Va., is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization. Its mission is to alleviate suffering, hunger, illiteracy and disease regardless of color, race, gender or creed, and to provide aid in a compassionate and dignified manner. Islamic Relief USA aims to provide rapid relief in the event of human and natural disasters and to establish sustainable local development projects, allowing communities to better help themselves. Its programs benefit millions of people each year around the world, including in the United States.
Islamic Relief USA meets all of the Standards for Charity Accountability of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, a national charity monitoring group affiliated with the Better Business Bureau system. Islamic Relief USA is on the U.S. government’s Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) charity list, and it is also a signatory to the code of conduct of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Christina Tobias-Nahi: 703-236-9796, cnahi@irusa.org