Canadian Response Team Member in Sumatra
On September 30, 2009, a 7.6 Magnitude earthquake devastated the Western Sumatra province around the city of Padang. In October, three overlapping ShelterBox Response Teams were deployed to deliver over 750 ShelterBoxes.

I had the privilege of being a part of the final ShelterBox team in Sumatra and arrived in Padang City on October 18th. The Teams were based in ShelterBox tents at Padang airport, only one hundred meters away from the secure ShelterBox cache.

We did not act alone. With the help of a few key Indonesian Rotarians we were able to secure the ShelterBoxes into Jakarta Duty-Free. Rotarians also helped organize the local Search and Rescue and Boy Scout groups to assist in the assessment and delivery of boxes in several key areas. The Royal Australia and US air forces provided heavy lift aerial transport with space on their Hercules aircraft. The International Organization for Migration provided free trucking of loads of up to 45 ShelterBoxes at a time on roads that were threatened by landslide and were marginal at best.

In addition to the small groupings of tents around countryside Jorong (villages), two ShelterBox camps were established for entire village communities that had been buried by landslides and the resulting Internally Displaced People (IDPs). At the time of our deployment these were the only two IDP camps in operation within the affected regions.

Walking through the camp area, the Team caught the squeals of laughter from children and noted the obvious pride with which each family had swept clean and kept their respective tents properly tensioned and staked. Shoes neatly lined the vestibule and on the inside carpets and bed spreads were dry. The monsoons which came each afternoon had not managed to penetrate any of the tents we had observed.

Despite the continuing threat of slides and aftershock the Sumatran people were well underway into the transitional phase of recovery and by the time we left on October 31st, there were many signs of more permanent shelters being erected. Despite this, we were assured by local officials and citizens alike that the ShelterBoxes, tents and supplies would be very well used in the year to come. It was likely that the IDP camps would be inhabited for a period of at least 4-6 months.

While ShelterBox is all about providing “Shelter, Warmth and Dignity” and “Doing the Most for the Most”, what often goes unmentioned, is that in the pursuit of these missions, ShelterBox also saves lives; specifically when children and the elderly are removed from the exposure of the weather, the bites of mosquitoes and the sting of the sun. Donors must appreciate that their ShelterBoxes are gifts that were very well received and respected by all of the earthquake recipients and their communities. And so I send a warm thank you from Sumatra to all of the many ShelterBox supporters that make our mission possible, from the box packers in Helston, UK, to the smallest school groups in Canada. Thank you.
Per Dahlstrom, SRT