Join the effort to help Dorian’s victims

All the technology in the world doesn’t matter when the power line is slashed.

Even on the end of the line that still has electricity, we have a limited view of the devastation and terror carved by Hurricane Dorian. Images of the aftermath from the skies can’t reveal the lives that were changed overnight.

So we don’t get closeups of a haven turned into a hell. Of half the homes in Abaco and Grand Bahamas destroyed. Of 70,000 people in need of lifesaving aid.

The storm’s Category 5 winds up to 185 mph mock children who should have been preparing to return to school in the Bahamas. Storms of such power do not recognize borders, laws or walls.

Instead, families were floating on mattresses. Airports were underwater. Homes resembled crushed toys. It was the stuff that CGI maestros try to replicate on screen as fantasy.

Among the looming invisible perils are contaminated ground water and the pending rise of rodents and mosquitoes.

The urgency for the survivors is to find fresh water, food and medical care. Those broken lines also

cut off communication to loved ones, both safe and endangered.

“We have nowhere to stay, nowhere to live. Everything is gone,” one survivor said on behalf of many.

The storm is calmer now, but still a threat as it travels along the eastern United States. Wind gusts in South Carolina on Thursday were measured at a stillpotent 80 mph.

Several relief agencies are working to get food and medicine in — and people out — of the islands in the Bahamas.

In addition to the ubiquitous Red Cross (redcross.org), participating agencies include Stamfordbased Americares and Fairfield’s Save the Children.

Save the Children has staff preparing to respond to families impacted by the storm in the United States, but part of its mission is to reassure kids everywhere who are exposed to the horrors that are all too easy to witness though mobile devices and televisions. They also offer wise guidance on providing children with emergency contact lists and preparing a “go bag” for children in event of evacuation.

Similarly, Americares’ focus includes providing mental health programs to help survivors address stress and anxieties triggered by the trauma. Relief workers were dispatched in recent days to deliver supplies to displaced families.

Those families can only feel helpless. These are times when donations to relief agencies can have an immediate impact on lives in jeopardy.

Americares has a current program that will match donations for a few more hours. Gifts contributed to the Americares Hurricane Dorian Relief Fund before Saturday will be matched (up to $10,000). To donate, go to americares.org/dorianfund.

Dorian isn’t finished, and predicting its path is not a perfect science. Its death count as of late Thursday was 20, and expected to rise.

Help is needed now, and will be for weeks and months to come. We can all be part of the rescue effort.

Instead, families were floating on mattresses. Airports were underwater. Homes resembled crushed toys. It was the stuff that CGI maestros try to replicate on screen as fantasy.