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Tuesday 1st July - CHINA: ShelterBox
Response Team Leader Dave Hallet (Canada) with Ron & Claire Noseworthy
(Canada) and Lizzy Treglown, Cornwall (UK) are distributing 730
ShelterBox tents to remote areas of Gansu province (North of Sichuan).
Gansu province reportedly has received little if any aid – but also
suffered significant damage.
Wednesday 25th June - CHINA: The major earthquake which struck Sichuan
province in China on May 12 caused fatalities exceeding 80,000 with an
estimated 5 million homeless or displaced. ShelterBox personnel were
able to obtain visas with assistance and support from Beijing Rotary
Club and the China Charity Federation. ShelterBox Operations Manager
Lasse Petersen gives his progress update, "ShelterBox initially sent 800
ShelterBoxes but thereafter further ramped up support for China
earthquake victims with total delivery now in excess of 4,400 tents.
(Some tents were able to be sent directly by rail from our tent
manufacturers in Shanghai). Four SRT teams to date have been deployed in
China including 16 SRT members from UK, Australian and Canada.
Distribution of assistance for China is currently continuing." |
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800 ShelterBoxes begin to arrive in remote
areas un-reached by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in China...
Tuesday 20th May - China: Two SRT's Pat
Prendergast (Swindon) and Tom Lay (Somerset) are now on their way from
Beijing to Chengdu, they will meet with one other international SRT
member Peter Clouting (Aus), they are travelling into a disaster area
the size of Spain.
The two SRT's stood for a 3 minute silence in Tiananmen Square yesterday
along with thousands of mourners and explained back to HQ, "that the
need for vital immediate relief aid such as 'ShelterBox' is essential at
this critical time as thousands of people need shelter and are exposed
to the elements in a state of shock."
Friday 16th May: ShelterBox has made an
initial commitment of 400 boxes to assist the earthquake victims in
China. Boxes will be channelled in through Hong Kong and Beijing Rotary
Clubs and the China Charity Federation. The boxes are destined for
Changdu City in the Sichuan Province. Back at HQ the relief
effort to get to the most needy within the rescue period is on high
alert, volunteers have again been packing around the clock. Tom
Henderson, founder & CEO, will travel in the morning, to the Chinese
Embassy to co-ordinate the transportation of as many boxes as donors can
give.
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Tuesday 27th May
- CHINA: The immediate response by ShelterBox of 800 boxes to China is
finally reaching some of the Sichuan Provinces worst hit villages. The
distribution of the first 200 boxes began today by the 4-man ShelterBox
Response Team on the ground. The first consignment of boxes where split
into two lots of 100.Pat Prendergast, Team Leader (photographed),
reported on the two villages of Pengzhou & Bailu that the aid is
reaching, he comments, “tents are up and the locals are extremely happy,
they are no doubt going to be under canvas for sometime, ShelterBox
tents are creating an excellent base.” He adds, “The Chinese people we
have met have been brilliant, sadly though we can only help a few
thousand of this vast population – more tents are desperately needed.”
One SRT, Tom Lay reported “The people are too scared to live in the town
and have spread themselves along the mountain pass, we spoke to the
Mayor of a small community who were in need of 3000 tents, but he said
people further up the mountain were in more desperate need and we should
use the ShelterBox equipment there, an attitude of the people here that
they have all joined together to help each other.”
Back at HQ in Cornwall the volunteers are busily unpacking a mixed
selection of tents supplied from Vango who are pulling all the stops out
to supply as many tents as possible, ironically back to the country of
origin. Volunteers are the life blood of ShelterBox and the commitment
to help is certainly what is driving this large scale logistics
operation forward. The unpacking and re-stocking and the swift turn
around in the warehouse is what makes the immediate response possible.
In Chengdu, the base camp for the ShelterBox Response Team, several
aftershocks have been experienced – the highly motivated and trained
responders are coping well and reporting to HQ on a daily basis.
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![In Sichuan Province, Lasse Petersen, ShelterBox Operations Manager [L] works with another Australian SRT member, Peter Clouting from Sydney in deployments](images/shelte1.jpg)
