Tuesday 26 January 2010
Tents provide shelter for the most vulnerable in Haiti
Ulrigue Idal gave birth to 2 day old Edwige at the Centre D'Ebergement and is now staying in a ShelterBox tent. Photograph: Mark PearsonFamilies with newborn babies and pregnant women have been given emergency shelter by the ShelterBox Response Team operating in Haiti.
The Response Team have set up a ShelterBox camp for up to 1,000 people on the Henfrasa sports field in Delmas, Port au Prince, Haiti, providing emergency shelter for the most in need and the most vulnerable.
ShelterBox Response Team member and General Manager Lasse Petersen said: ‘We agreed with the local community that the initial tent allocation would be for families with pregnant women and families with newborns.
‘We’re prioritising women and children, providing disaster relief tents, blankets, water containers, children’s packs and kitchenware, basically enough to set up families who have lost everything.
‘The Dutch marines have been very helpful for us in providing storage at Port au Prince airport as well as providing security to our team during the distribution of aid. There are hundreds of thousands of people left homeless but this is the first of our deliveries with
many thousands more to come.’
Haitian hope
Aid for more than 20,000 people has already arrived in Haiti and is being distributed by the Response Team with the help of the Dutch marines, Rotarians, French aid agency ACTED and the French Red Cross.
ShelterBox’s team of volunteers in the UK are continuing their hard work packing boxes. Another 3,000 ShelterBoxes are due to arrive by the end of this week taking ShelterBoxes commitment of boxes above the 5,000 mark.
Haiti’s President Rene Preval has urgently appealed for more tents to house the estimated 1.5 million people made homeless by the earthquake.
ShelterBox’s Mark Pearson, who has now been in Haiti for nearly two weeks, said: ‘There are hundreds of thousands of people who are injured. The walking wounded are everywhere.
‘People are being taken to hospital in wheelbarrows with their legs bandaged up with plastic bags. The people here are very scared to live in the buildings and only feel safe in the tents. Shelter, medical care, water and food are important. They are the most basic things people are screaming out for. Aid is staring to arrive so there is a lot of hope here.’
Click here to listen to Mark Pearson talking to Rotary international
Lasse Petersen added: ‘Port au Prince is overflowing with encampments of people sleeping without basic shelter. The demand remains enormous, but with the help of our donors, ShelterBox has flown five aircraft and over 2,000 ShelterBoxes to aid those left homeless by the quake.
‘In the hospitals, orphanages and local communities we are making a difference and thousands of more boxes are en route.'
Click here to watch a video of the camp in Delmas being set up.
Click here to see more photos from ShelterBox in Haiti.
If you can help support ShelterBox's work around the globe in any way, great or small, please click here.
.jpg)
