A ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) is working in Uganda in response to deadly landslides which struck the country at the start of March.
They arrived in Uganda at the weekend and are now assessing the worst affected areas. They are based in Mbale, in Uganda’s east, the closest city to the Bududa region which was hit by the landslides.
On Monday, March 1 torrential rains in the areas surrounding Mt Elgon caused flooding and deadly landslides. A camp has been set up in Bulucheke for close to 3,000 people although it is feared this number could rise to 5,000. Of the 3,000 people in the camp, close to 1,300 are children.
Speaking from the camp, one SRT said: ‘There are a lot of different organizations on the ground and we’ll be working closely with them in the coming days. Large tents are currently housing 100 people at a time in very cramped conditions and families are being split up.
‘Tomorrow we’re trekking into the mountains where we think there’ll be a big need for ShelterBoxes.’
‘The landslides came down from Mt Elgon and cleared out an entire valley, destroying three schools in the process."
Showing posts with label shelterbox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shelterbox. Show all posts
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
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.’
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.’
Thursday, March 4, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, March 1, 2010
...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."
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."
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
The Pictures Speak For Themselves
Here are the first pictures of a ShelterBox village in Haiti.
These rugged tents will provide adequate shelter when the rainy season arrives in April.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
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
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
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