In late September of 2022, Typhoon Merbok struck Alaska, devastating communities along over 1,300 miles of the state’s western coast. The storm damaged homes, seawalls, roads and airport runways as well as water systems in many towns and villages.

After Merbok, the water supply became contaminated in these towns and villages. In some cases, the water system stopped functioning or was destroyed entirely. “I don’t drink the water here if I can avoid it,” said Blache Okbaok-Garnie, mayor of the Alaskan village of Teller. “[After Merbok,] the water here is not good without filtering or boiling. I could feel it hit my stomach.”

Bottled water was donated, but shipping cases of water to Alaska drastically increased their cost, and generated plastic bottle waste. A case of water that might cost $5 went up to as high as $35 after shipping.

The region has a high poverty level along with high unemployment rates, meaning the prohibitive cost of the bottled water was not a feasible solution to the water problem. It was decided that water filters were a more sustainable option to the need for clean drinking water in the affected towns and villages. The American Red Cross Long-Term Recovery program then stepped in to help.

When resources allow, Red Cross long-term recovery operations may be implemented as part of a disaster operation and may include community preparedness and community assistance services. These services are delivered through programs scaled and adapted to the specific nature of the disaster. Long-term recovery operations may continue for up to two years after response operations have ceased.

To address the situation, the Long-Term Recovery program partnered with nonprofit tribal consortium Kawerak, Inc. to meet the need for safe, clean drinking water in a more long-term, sustainable way. This was accomplished through the installation of water filters in some of the most hard-hit villages across Alaska. The Red Cross awarded a $354,000 grant to Kawerak to support water filter installation in several villages. As of July 2024, grant activities:

• Provided more than 3,200 people with water filtration systems.

• Provided a more sustainable solution for potable drinking water for residents of the impacted villages.

• Prioritized distribution to vulnerable populations (elderly and homes with very young members) and communities without municipal water and sewer systems.

• Reduced the amount of plastic bottle waste that the communities have to deal with from using bottled water.

The Red Cross recognizes these communities face unique challenges, due to isolation, lack of infrastructure, and vulnerability to flooding and other disasters caused by extreme weather. “Climate change is affecting us,” said Isabelle Jackson, city planner for the Alaskan village of Shaktoolik. “We’re going to be an island soon.”

The Red Cross has deep expertise in disaster relief. It also depends on organizations like Kawerak to understand the deep cultural context and needs of communities like Teller and Shaktoolik. Partnerships like these ensure the solution the Red Cross brings is a match for the needs of the community, not just in the immediate wake of the disaster, but for the long term.

Carol Piscoya, vice president, Community Services Division for Kawerak, explained that an obstacle to recovery was government aid classifying subsistence camps like hers as “second homes” or vacation homes. The small shacks along the shoreline, which were disproportionately affected by storm surges caused by Merbok, were essentially shacks, with most lacking indoor plumbing or electricity. These were where the local community slept, while they fished and gathered during the season. Salmon dried on racks outside these camps, fish that often sustained the community throughout the rest of the year. Losing it, especially in a place with a high cost of living, was not the loss of a vacation home or weekend fishing hobby. It meant the loss of food that would feed their families for the rest of the year.

Cultural context like this, that affects the real livelihoods, is why partnerships between the Red Cross and tribal organizations like Kawerak are so important.

Similar partnerships are happening in Long-Term Recovery operations across the country, in locations as diverse as the disasters that affect them.

One such partnership is the Red Cross’s partnership with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement in Maui, following the Maui fires.

The communities the Red Cross serves reap the benefit of these partnerships, especially in the case of working alongside indigenous organizations and populations. For communities that historically were overlooked and underserved, these partnerships are essential to speed recovery and build resilience.