Contact: Colleen Roche/Samantha Lugo (212) 788-2958
Sunny Mindel (OEM) (212)442-2031
Flanked by Deputy Mayor Ninfa Segarra and Director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management, Jerome M. Hauer, Mayor Giuliani said: "As Mayor of the second largest Dominican City in the world, we owe this assistance to the Dominican people. Our promise to rebuild the Regional Hospital George in Sammy Sosa's home town, San Pedro de Macoris, will be set in motion when the second team of experts leave to asses the hospital's needs tomorrow."
"The architects, engineers, doctors, Con-Ed utility experts, Police and Fire officers, and Office of Emergency Management team coordinators on our relief team are a proud example of New York City's long standing tradition of providing help to our neighbors when they need it," the Mayor added.
The team, lead by Office of Emergency Management Deputy Director Steven Kuhr, will work together will local officials to evaluate conditions and assess what further assistance can be provided by New York City.
At the request of the President of the Dominican Republic, Lionel Fernandez, the Mayor toured the storm-ravaged island over the weekend. To date, New York City has shipped 500,000 pounds of food and water supplies and sent a 63 member Urban Search and Rescue team which spent 8 days there providing medical treatment, repairing infrastructure and helping locate those injured and killed by the storm. Another 500,000 pounds of donated supplies have been collected and are ready for shipment.
Related Press Releases: PR#445-98, PR#443-98, PR#441-98