On the remote and impoverished reservations of the Southwest, residents have few resources for coping when natural disaster strikes. Fires, storms, and water shortages hit Navajo families especially hard, because they typically have little money for emergency purchases and very limited supplies in local stores.
When reservation communities are struck by natural disaster, NRF works with our
Program Partners to quickly and effectively assist the victims. NRF is often the first line of support, because our close ties with each community enable us to respond immediately.
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Natural disasters take a heavy toll on those who live in poverty and isolation. |
NRF can quickly mobilize emergency supplies such as bottled water, juice, baby food, formula, diapers, cleaning supplies, paper plates, cups, napkins, food items, clothing, blankets, and medical supplies such as bandages. In 2008, NRF responded to four environmental emergencies affecting seven tribes.
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A wildfire on Navajo Mountain threatened 1,400 area residents in 2006. |
In June 2006, lightening sparked a wildfire near 10,500-foot Navajo Mountain, one of the reservation’s most sacred landmarks. The fire raged along the Arizona-Utah border for more than a week, burning thousands of acres and requiring hundreds of firefighters and several aircraft to control it.
Unfortunately, chemical fire retardants dropped by helicopters contaminated the only water source for 1,400 Navajos living in the area. The Navajo Nation and San Juan County, Utah, declared states of emergency.
Within days, two truckloads of food, water, toiletries, and other emergency supplies rolled out of NRC’s Phoenix warehouse en route to the top of Navajo Mountain. Volunteers, working under the direction of local Program Partners, sorted the relief supplies and helped distribute them to those in need.
| NRF can quickly deliver emergency water, food, clothing, and medical supplies. |
If evacuations had been required, NRF was prepared to deliver additional food, water, blankets and other needed provisions.
While it’s impossible to predict exactly when and where such natural disasters will occur, NRF knows they will happen. With the help of compassionate people like you, we remain ready to respond whenever Navajos in need call out to us.
Faces brighten whenever help arrives from NRF. | |
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