Haiti - Three Months On

Three months on from one of the worst disasters ever witnessed, over 100,000 Haitian earthquake survivors are rebuilding their lives in ShelterBox tents.

The international disaster relief charity has now delivered over 13,000 ShelterBoxes to families who lost everything in the 7.3-magnitude quake, with each box containing a disaster relief tent to house a family of up to 10 and other items essential for survival.

As the world marks the three-month anniversary of the disaster that struck on January 12, ShelterBox is sending another 5,000 boxes of aid this month – enough for a further 50,000 people – with thousands more ShelterBoxes due to arrive in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, during the coming months.

Tom Henderson, ShelterBox Founder and CEO, said: ‘We were one of the first agencies on the ground in Port au Prince when the earthquake struck, and thanks to the sheer grit and determination of all our volunteers and supporters, we have now distributed aid to over 100,000 Haitians most in need.

‘With tens of thousands of families still living without adequate shelter in heavy rains and the hurricane season soon approaching, the need for emergency shelter is still great and we won’t rest until this need is met.’

ShelterBox began its response to the Haiti earthquake just 12 minutes after the quake struck at 2150GMT on January 12, mobilising a ShelterBox Response Team to Port au Prince. The next day, the first ShelterBoxes left the charity’s HQ bound for Haiti.

The first boxes arrived five days after the earthquake, despite the tremendous logistical difficulties and were used to set up emergency field hospitals, immediately saving lives by providing vital shelter to patients who had nowhere to go. Hundreds more boxes followed and ShelterBox camps were set up in suburbs of Port au Prince including Delmas, where families with newborn babies and pregnant women were prioritised for emergency shelter.

A total of 13,000 ShelterBoxes have now been distributed in Haiti with thousands more to come, making it ShelterBox’s largest deployment since the Indian Ocean Tsunami. All aid has been delivered by volunteer ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members from across the globe, including two from Canada, who have carried out extensive training with ShelterBox. More than 30 SRT members have now been deployed in Haiti as well as Santo Domingo and Miami coordinating logistics for Haitian aid.

Partnerships forged with organisations on the ground in Haiti such as French aid agency ACTED, the French Red Cross, the IOM, local Rotarians, the Dutch military and the US military allowed SRT members to distribute boxes effectively and securely, ensuring aid has been delivered to people most in need. Across the globe, people have been supporting ShelterBox on unprecedented levels and volunteers at ShelterBox HQ have been packing more boxes, in the shortest space of time, than they ever had before.

ShelterBox Founder and CEO Tom Henderson said: ‘In March, it was a great personal privilege to travel to Haiti and see firsthand the amazing work our teams are doing there.

‘None of this could happen without our friends and supporters. Since the earthquake struck we have witnessed acts of generosity, kindness and compassion on a daily basis. My heartfelt thanks go out to all our supporters for everything they are doing for ShelterBox.’

Report From Chile

ShelterBox is getting aid to hardest to reach areas in Chile. ShelterBox Response Teams (SRT) in earthquake-hit Chile have been delivering emergency shelter to remote communities across a huge geographical area. The 8.8-magnitude quake that struck the South American country a month ago caused widespread destruction in dozens of towns and villages and triggered a tsunami which ravaged a large section of the Chilean coast.

An SRT has been delivering disaster relief tents and life-saving supplies for up to 10,000 people in four different regions of southern Chile. The massive area stretches from Iloca, north of the worst-affected city Concepcion, to Lebu on the coast, and measures an estimated 40,000 square kilometers – roughly the size of the Netherlands.

Jessica Stanton, ShelterBox Operations Coordinator and Team Leader in Chile, said: ‘This deployment has been by far the most complex I’ve experienced. The effects of the disaster are split across such an enormous area. It was one of the biggest earthquakes ever with some communities hit by the earthquake and others by the subsequent tsunami. Every town we are going to is in a critical state but we have to ensure the 1,000 tents we have on the ground go to those most in need.

‘Yesterday we gave a box to a large family where the mother was just three days away from giving birth and her six-month-old baby had bronchitis. They had been living in a greenhouse with no proper floor and because it’s so hot and dusty it was making the baby’s condition worse. They were very emotional when they received the ShelterBox and everybody just burst out crying.’
The team has been working with the NGO, Un Techo Para Chile, consignee Adelphos, logistics firm Goodyear and Rotary clubs, Scouts and fire services to ensure aid is distributed. A fifth ShelterBox Response Team member has been based in Santiago assisting with customs and logistics. ShelterBoxes have so far been given out to people who have lost their homes in Retiro, Parral, Cauquenes, Chanco and Copihue. Along the coast, Talcahuano, Lebu and Coronle have also received ShelterBox aid.

A spokesperson said: ‘ShelterBox has been working in some of the hardest to reach places in rural Chile near the epicentre of the earthquake. We are the first organisation to be operating around some of the towns and villages. The small town of Retiro was one of the worst affected places and a huge distance away from any major routes. We have been working with the Retiro scouts and Retiro fire brigade to work in areas that have not received aid.’

Aid recipient Sara Norambvena ,70, said: ‘I never thought I would lose my house. Thanks to ShelterBox I have a place now to spend the winter that is coming. I have seven grandchildren that I look after and now having these two tents means we will be safe. ShelterBox is the first aid we have seen since the earthquake. We are so happy we have not been forgotten.’

Jessica added: ‘Down on the coast, such as in Talcahuano, we delivered boxes to families who had been living under plastic sheeting in really cramped conditions. The rains are due imminently and once they start, the whole situation will become a million times worse. In more urban areas such as Parral, there is a lot less space and with all the buildings made of mud and sand, the earthquake turned the whole town into rubble. In the old mining town of Coronle, houses built on top of mining tunnels which have collapsed have caused the houses to slip downhill. And in the fishing town of Lebu, people have not only lost their homes but also their livelihoods.

'The Chilean people are unbelievably resilient and are really pulling together.’

Aid on the Way for Small Chilean Communities

ShelterBox is distributing disaster relief tents and life-saving supplies for up to 10,000 earthquake survivors in Chile.

Around 1,000 ShelterBoxes are arriving in the capital Santiago this weekend where they will be met by two ShelterBox Response Teams (SRT) and delivered to those who lost their homes in the devastating 8.8 magnitude quake.

With strong aftershocks still a regular occurrence nearly a fortnight after the disaster, ShelterBox workers on the ground have been assessing areas of greatest need in the Talca region, north of the worst-affected city, Concepcion.

Incoming Team Leader and ShelterBox Operations Coordinator Jessica Stanton said: ‘We’ll be arriving at the same time as 1,000 ShelterBoxes arrive so we’ll have our work cut out distributing the tents and supplies.

‘The Chilean government and other agencies have been providing emergency shelter in Concepcion, the city closest to the quake’s epicentre, and to areas along the coast which were hit by a tsunami.

‘But we’re hearing reports that more inland, rural communities near Talca are not getting any support despite people’s homes being destroyed by the earthquake. We’re looking to put tents up close to people’s homesteads so they can stay where they are under cover while starting to rebuild their lives and homes.’

The 1,000 ShelterBoxes – providing enough aid for up to 10,000 people - have come from prepositioned stock in Melbourne, Singapore and Dubai as well as from ShelterBox HQ in the UK. ShelterBox has a network of strategic locations around the globe where boxes are stored to allow a speedy response to disasters wherever they strike.

On arrival in Santiago the boxes will be transported by road to Talca with help from shipping company DHL. SRT member Tom Lay said: ‘There is massive damage in the region of Talca and a lot of buildings are just gone. We’ve identified rural communities in the towns of Curepto, Villa Prat and Curico which were hit by the quake and suffered devastation, but are at the bottom of the list in terms of getting aid, so we’re making sure these communities get emergency shelter as quickly as possible.

‘The aftershocks we’ve felt have been really strong and we had to evacuate the building we were in. We can’t wait for the boxes to arrive and as soon as they do we’ll be distributing them.’

Update on Chile

A three-person ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) has arrived in Chile. They had to travel through Argentina and across the Andes in order to reach Chile’s capital Santiago and are now pulling out all the stops to establish where ShelterBoxes are most needed.

The team has met with Rotary contacts and government officials in Santiago. They will be travelling south to Concepcion and the worst affected areas tomorrow (Friday, March 5). Concepcion is Chile’s second largest city and was nearest to the quake’s epicentre.

From all the reports there’s an absolute crying need for shelter in Concepcion and areas along the coast which have been largely overlooked. The team’s contacts in Chile told them that the Iloca region, on Chile’s coast, was hit by a tsunami after the earthquake. The tsunami reached three miles inland in some areas causing widespread damage and destruction. The SRT will be visiting the area as soon as they travel south towards Concepcion, a twelve hour drive from Santiago.

...And Now Chile

An initial consignment of 448 ShelterBoxes is being sent to Chile in response to the massive earthquake that hit the country.

ShelterBox is utilising all its global resources to respond as quickly as possible to this latest disaster. ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members Pat Prendergast (UK), Tom Lay (UK) and Traci Oliver (US) are currently en route to Chile’s capital Santiago. On arrival the team will join up with local Rotarians and the Red Cross to establish where the greatest need for emergency shelter is.

The team will be joined by 448 ShelterBoxes, enough aid for up to 4,480 people. The boxes are being sent from prepositioned stock in Melbourne, Australia. ShelterBox has a network of strategic locations around the globe where boxes are stored to allow a speedy response to any disaster wherever it may strike.

Head of Operations, John Leach, said: ‘The full extent of the damage in Chile is yet to be seen but there’ll undoubtedly be a need for emergency shelter.

‘Our first response team was mobilised as soon as news of the earthquake reached us. We’re now sending ShelterBoxes form Australia and once our team arrive in Santiago they’ll be working closely with Rotarians and other aid organisations to make sure the aid reaches the people who need it most.’

With the earthquake in Chile following so soon after the earthquake Haiti, the need to support ShelterBox could not be greater. General Manager, Lasse Petersen, said: “We’re responding to the massive disasters in both Haiti and Chile as well as other disasters across the world that aren’t making the headlines. Whenever disasters strike they inevitably leave devastated families in their wake, families who lose everything through no fault of their own.”

‘We urgently need donations to fund our disaster relief efforts, to help us respond to the current disasters and to acquire more tents and life saving supplies in readiness for future disasters."

Canadian Boxes to Malawi

A series of earthquakes in the Great Rift Valley have left many people homeless in Malawi.These boxes were sent there by Canadian donors as part of a shipment of 200 boxes:
Rotary Club of Shediac, 1791
Rotary Club of Fredericton North, 1792/93
Rotary Club of Peachland, 1794/95
Rotary Club of Lake Country, 1796/97
Rotary Club of Winnipeg Assiniboine, 1798/99
Rotary Club of Waterdown, 1800/1801
Rotary Club of Kimberley, 1802/03
Rotary Club of Edmonton Sunrise, 1804/05/06