Monday 18 January 2010
Haiti operations centres up and running
This picture shows Elda Exeuatug, mother of 20-day-old baby Samanya, who has not received any help or relief and her baby is starting to get rashes. She said: 'I have no idea how to cope with this. We have nothing no food, water, shelter we are desperate'. Photogrpah: Mark PearsonShelterBox has established three separate operational centers in and around Haiti to help distribute assistance to the estimated one million people left homeless by the devastating 12 January earthquake.
The three-person ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) in Haiti has set up an operations base in the capital Port au Prince with the assistance of local Rotarians to co-ordinate the delivery of aid in the country. They are working with the French aid agency ACTED to determine the areas in most need of assistance and are training personnel to put up tents ahead of their arrival into the devastated country.
Speaking from Haiti, Mark Pearson said: 'Tens of thousands are displaced living in the capital with no proper shelter, water or food and hospitals are completely over run.'
The Haiti operation is being supported by logistical hubs set up in Miami and the Dominican Republic capital Santa Domingo. ShelterBoxes have been flown to both cities for onward transportation to Haiti. Overall logistical co-ordination is being managed from ShelterBox HQ in Helston.
ShelterBox Head of Operations John Leach said: ‘This is the largest, quickest and most complex deployment in our history. We are now very well organised across four countries to get ShelterBoxes to the people of Haiti quickly.
‘We are now set up to channel aid to those in need efficiently and effectively in the days and weeks to come. This is a long term commitment from ShelterBox and we have to sustain our initial push.’
Warehouse volunteers continue to pack ShelterBoxes day and night at the ShelterBox HQ in Helston. More than 3,300 ShelterBoxes have been committed so far, enough to help up to 33,000 people. Given the enormity of the disaster, more boxes are being packed ready to be sent to the Caribbean country.
ShelterBox Founder and CEO Tom Henderson added: ‘The need in Haiti is huge. Current estimates are that there are over a million people who have lost their homes.
‘We continue to rely on the support of volunteers and donors to allow us to help them in the days and weeks to come.’
