April – June 2007: Solomons tsunami and Pakistan floods

More boxes being prepared

2nd July - Pakistan: More boxes will soon be on their way to help flood and cyclone victims in Pakistan. Another 200 boxes are due to leave the UK within the next 24 hours. A further 200 boxes, each containing two tents, are also due to be packed this week. The first 220 boxes sent, accompanied by an SRT team, are due to arrive in Karachi tomorrow.

Aid on its way to cyclone victims

 

27th June - Pakistan: ShelterBox is sending aid for more than 2,000 people to Pakistan after a cyclone battered the Arabian Sea coast, leaving hundreds feared dead and many thousands homeless.

The storm has inflicted major damage to houses and roads along the coasts of Pakistan’s Sindh and Balochistan provinces. Many buildings have been flattened and more than a dozen fishing boats with 200-plus crew on board have been reported missing at sea.

Tomorrow, 220 boxes will leave the UK and are expected to arrive in Karachi on Tuesday 3rd July, along with a ShelterBox Response Team. The volunteers in the team will work with Pakistan’s National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) to distribute the boxes. ShelterBox founder and general manager Tom Henderson said: “We understand the situation for fishing communities along the Arabian Sea coast is quite devastating. People had to flee inland to escape the waves pounding the coast.

 

“Waves and floods have washed away thousands of homes, destroyed roads and caused at least one major bridge to collapse. The NRSP has said they will be able to fly our boxes in by helicopter but it’s still going to be quite an operation getting aid to those in need.”

Breakaway republic could offer aid gateway for Somalia

13th June - Somalia: A breakaway republic could provide a gateway for delivering humanitarian aid to thousands of displaced Somalis.

Huge numbers of people have been forced from their homes following years of civil war in Somalia but continuing fighting and instability in the south of the country has made it impossible for aid agencies to operate there safely.

However, the country’s north-eastern region broke away six years ago to form the Republic of Somaliland. Although not officially recognised, the country does have a proper government and stable economy. Now, a two-man team from ShelterBox has just returned from Somaliland after being invited to meet government officials and discuss using the Red Sea port of Berbera as a route for delivering aid.

ShelterBox general manager Tom Henderson said: “ShelterBox will not rush into any action without assessing this carefully but having a secure and stable access into the Horn of Africa would be a tremendous step forward in terms of being able to safely deliver aid to those in need.”

 

The Somaliland contact came about after members of the Somali community in Swindon heard about the work of ShelterBox. Hassan Nur, chairman of the Swindon Somali community, travelled with the ShelterBox team. He said: “I left but my mother and sister spent six years in a refugee camp. There are thousands of people waiting in the north and in Somalia for the fighting to stop but there is little sign of that.”

While in Somaliland the team demonstrated a ShelterBox tent and other aid items to local representatives and visited some of the camps for displaced people.

Global supply chain being put in place

24th May - Global: A strategic chain of worldwide aid storage facilities is being set up so ShelterBox can get help to disaster victims even faster in future.

The project has been given a major boost by help from international logistics firm DHL, which is working with ShelterBox.

Emergency aid sent from the UK often travels enormous distances to reach disaster victims. Although ShelterBox is often eing one of the first agencies to get aid into the field, the charity now intends to preposition boxes at five key locations.

Using shipping containers that can each hold emergency aid for more than 2,000 people, storage points have been set up in Nairobi and Melbourne, while others will follow in Panama, Dubai and Indonesia.

ShelterBox general manager Tom Henderson said: “This is a major step forward. In a disaster, time is of the essence. Shelter is one of the key aid requirements and the faster we can get it there the better the survival chances of disaster victims.”

He explained: “Being able to preposition aid means we can send boxes to the new stores by sea, significantly reducing costs. These locations are all key transport hubs and, when a disaster does strike, we can draw on aid from whichever store is closest. Although we will may send additional boxes from the UK, this means we will have an initial consignment that we can deliver in an even shorter time.”

John Brough, Aid & Relief manager for DHL Global Forwarding said: “DHL has worked closely with ShelterBox to identify locations that are both practical and strategic. We’re delighted to be able to support their work.”