In the wake of devastating April rains and floods that left thousands of households across Greater Santo Domingo displaced and financially strained, the Dominican Republic’s Supérate Social Development Directorate has kicked off the distribution of targeted emergency cash assistance, rolling out the Emergency Bonus as a core component of the country’s national Adaptive Social Protection (PSA) strategy.
The program is designed to deliver much-needed relief to 1,766 hard-hit families across three municipalities: Los Alcarrizos, Santo Domingo Oeste, and Pedro Brand. Each qualifying household will receive a one-time payment of RD$7,000, bringing the total value of this round of aid to RD$12,362,000. The funds are earmarked to help families repair flood-damaged homes and cover urgent basic needs after the disaster.
Speaking at the launch of the distribution held Friday, May 26 at Los Alcarrizos’ Multipurpose Center, Supérate Director General Mayra Jiménez emphasized that the initiative aligns with the current government’s commitment to centering vulnerable communities in public policy. “We have strengthened our national social protection framework to ensure that no family facing an emergency is left without support from their government, working hand-in-hand with all state institutions and local authorities,” Jiménez said. “This bonus fills critical gaps for those who lost everything, were out of work for weeks, went into debt to make ends meet, or need to purchase essential medication.”
Local leaders echoed that commitment, highlighting the broader scope of the government’s post-flood response. Los Alcarrizos Mayor Junior Santos noted that alongside direct cash assistance, the national government has advanced critical infrastructure upgrades, including new drainage and sanitation projects designed to reduce future flood risk for at-risk communities. Santos added that new mitigation interventions will launch across other high-risk sectors of the municipality in the coming days, and recapped the wide-ranging aid already deployed after the April floods: more than 7,000 household appliances, thousands of essential home goods, over 20,000 food rations, and other critical supplies have already been delivered to affected families.
Santos also confirmed that 69,000 additional families across the country were added to the national Bonoluz utility assistance program in May, 3,500 of which are Los Alcarrizos residents.
The distribution schedule has been structured to ensure safe, efficient access for all recipients. After the first day of distribution in Los Alcarrizos, the program will move Saturday, May 27 to Professor Germán Martínez High School in the National District’s Los Ríos sector, where mobile units from Banco de Reservas have been deployed to process payments on-site. Distribution to eligible families in Santo Domingo Norte is scheduled to begin next week.
To guarantee that aid reaches the most vulnerable households, all beneficiaries were selected through rigorous surveys and validation checks managed by the Single Beneficiary System (Siuben), which uses the Basic Emergency Form (FIBE) to assess damage severity and need. This vetting process ensures that support goes to households that suffered the worst flood impacts.
The Emergency Bonus is a core pillar of the Dominican government’s Adaptive Social Protection policy, which was created to deliver fast, targeted support to vulnerable households during emergencies, natural disasters, and other unforeseen crises. Beyond the current emergency assistance, Supérate already maintains broad ongoing social protection coverage across the three affected municipalities. In total, more than 93,000 local families receive regular support through government programs including Aliméntate, Bonogás, and Bonoluz: 43,039 in Los Alcarrizos, 36,213 in Santo Domingo Oeste, and 13,813 in Pedro Brand.