October - December 2007: Uganda floods, Mexico floods, Bangladesh cyclone
Aid effort continues for cyclone victims
December 7th - Bangladesh: Three weeks after Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, the need for further aid continues. A UN report issued on Wednesday said the scale of the disaster was initially underestimated. It is now believed that around 560,000 homes were completely destroyed and approaching 900,000 damaged by the cyclone.
A further 200 ShelterBoxes are now on their way to Bangladesh - bringing to 1,024 the total now sent. A second ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) has also gone out to Bangladesh and will continue to oversee the aid distribution.
Another 200 boxes for Bangladesh
December 3rd - Bangladesh: Thanks to the donations that continue to arrive in response to the Bangladesh cyclone, ShelterBox has now been able to send another 200 boxes to victims of the storm. The next consignment of boxes - aid for a further 2,000 people - is due to arrive within the next 36 hours.
First boxes reach cyclone victims
November 30th - Bangladesh: With a 60kg box balanced on his head, a Bangldeshi man wades ashore with his precious cargo. In the box is a 10-person tent, blankets, cooking equipment, tools and a selection of other equipment supplied by ShelterBox.
A fortnight after Bangladesh was hammered by 155mph winds and a 15ft tidal surge generated by Cyclone Sidr, aid is just starting to reach many of the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless.
Yesterday, the first of more than 600 ShelterBoxes sent to Bangladesh so far got to Gabatula, a village that took the storm's full force. The boxes were delivered by ShelterBox volunteers working with the Bangladeshi military. Photographer Mark Pearson said: “We’re the first agency to be providing shelter in this area.”
An earlier reconnaissance had identified 3,000 people in Gabatula alone who lost their homes to the cyclone. ShelterBox volunteer John Baddeley, a pharmacist from Dorset, said: “The scenes here are pretty awful. We’ve seen the graves of people who’ve drowned. We’re just glad to get these boxes here and get them out to the families that need them.”
Another 400 boxes have also now left Dhaka and should reach the ShelterBox team today. Keith Higgs, a paramedic from Porthleven, said: “It’s going to be a busy few days for us once they arrive.”
Until more aid from ShelterBox arrives, thousands of families will continue to huddle together in crude shacks built from sticks, bits of bamboo and lengths of cloth.
The UN today announced a six-month plan to help Bangladesh recover from the cyclone. ShelterBox will be sending more boxes over the coming days but says many thousands of families are still in urgent need of help and is appealing for continued public support. To donate now click here.
US military helps distribute ShelterBoxes
November 28th - Bangladesh: The US military has joined the battle to get aid to communities left devastated by the cyclone. The US is using its helicopters to fly aid - including ShelterBoxes - to key distribution points.
Photo Credit: Seaman Christopher Lange 28th November 2007
Despite tremendous logistical problems caused by the scale of the disaster, storm damage and the nature of the terrain, more boxes are also making their way from Dhaka by road.
Assessments of several locations have been carried out by members of a ShelterBox Response Team and the distribution of boxes to individual families is due to begin tomorrow.
Bangaldesh: situation still desperate
November 26th - Bangladesh: Cyclone survivors in Bangladesh are still in desperate need of more food, water and shelter.
As boxes begin the long and difficult cross-country journey through the storm-devastated region, members of a ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) have been carrying out need assessments in some of the worst hit villages. Photographer Mark Pearson said: “The situation is a mess. Huge trees have come down on houses and are all over the place. It’s going to take a good six months to clear everything up.”
He added that although some limited food aid is now arriving, the survivors who have lost homes, crops and possessions urgently need more outside help.
First boxes in Bangladesh
November 22nd - Bangladesh: The first 230 ShelterBoxes to arrive in Bangladesh are being loaded onto vehicles in the capital Dhaka today.
ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members are working with the Bangladesh Government, which has identified two possible areas for the boxes to be sent - each of them severely damaged by the cyclone.
Bargunna is a town on the southern coast, while Bagherat is a little way inland along one of the rivers of the Ganges Delta. Thousands of people have been left homeless in each location. The storm also destroyed roads and much of the land is still flooded, making small boats the only way of getting aid in at present.
The first boxes will leave Dhaka early tomorrow (local time) while the next 400 boxes are now on their way by air. However, Bangladesh is still struggling to recover from the disaster and much more aid is needed.
Bangladesh: appeal for more help
November 20th - Bangladesh: ShelterBox is appealing for more help as the charity steps up efforts to help the people of Bangladesh.
More than 3,000 people have now been confirmed dead following Cyclone Sidr, which has also left around one million homeless.
Following news of the disaster, ShelterBox immediately dispatched 230 boxes and will be sending another 400 this week. The boxes will together provide aid for more than 6,000 people but much more help is needed.
ShelterBox aid on the way to Bangladesh
November 16th - Bangladesh: ShelterBox has sprung into immediate action to help victims of the cyclone that hit Bangladesh yesterday.
Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh yesterday, with 150mph winds creating a 15ft (5m) storm surge that overwhelmed coastal defences. First estimates are of 250 people killed but officials say the death toll is likely to rise much higher. Reports also indicate three coastal towns with a combined population of 700,000 have been devastated by the storm.
ShelterBox personnel had monitored reports of the storm from the charity's Cornwall HQ and plans to send help have now swung into place. However, rather than being dispatched from the UK, the charity is using a consignment of boxes already pre-positioned in Dubai.
ShelterBox founder and chief executive Tom Henderson explained: “Earlier this year we set up a number of strategic stores around the world. These boxes were sent to Dubai by sea some months ago. Having them ready and waiting means we can about halve both the flying distance and the time to get the aid there - as well as reduce costs.”
It is hoped that 230 ShelterBoxes stored at Dubai will be on a plane to Bangladesh within 24 hours. Contained in each box is a 10-person ShelterBox tent, blankets, water containers and a variety of other equipment.
Volunteers from the ShelterBox Response Team will also fly out to help oversee the distribution of the boxes and assess what further help the charity can give. Mr Henderson said: "With the number of people affected, it’s quite likely we will be asked for more help. This first consignment contains aid for more than 2,000 people but a lot more will be needed.”
Mexico floods 'like Katrina but bigger'
November 5th - Mexico: Emergency help for thousands of Mexico’s flood victims is on its way from ShelterBox.
Floods in the Mexican state of Tabasco are estimated to have left 800,000 people homeless with tens of thousands still trapped in flooded buildings. Local officials say water levels reached 19 feet (6 metres) at their peak but have now finally begun to drop.
ShelterBox began its response to the disaster over the weekend, packing an initial consignment of 200 boxes which leave the UK today. They will be flown to Mexico City via Houston, then transported to the Tabasco state capital of Villahermosa.
Two American members of a ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) are already on route to Mexico and will be joined by two British volunteers within a couple of days. The SRT members will work with local state officials and Rotary clubs to assess the situation and evaluate where aid is needed most.
ShelterBox founder and chief executive Tom Henderson said: “The situation in Tabasco has been described as like Hurricane Katrina but bigger. We will be looking at sending more aid but that decision will depend on us having the funds available and for that we do rely on the support of the public.”
Boxes delivered in North Korea
For more of Mark's pictures and video footage click here.
October 22nd - North Korea: An exceptional glimpse of life inside one of the world’s most isolated regimes has been provided following a ShelterBox deployment to North Korea.
The charity has just delivered 200 boxes containing tents and other equipment to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), after being asked by the country’s government to help families left homeless by recent floods.
ShelterBox photographer Mark Pearson travelled with some of the boxes to Jigokri, a small village no more than 25 miles from the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) dividing North and South Korea. The area is extremely sensitive and very few visitors to North Korea are allowed beyond the capital Pyongyang, let alone within such a short distance of the DMZ.
The invitation to assist in North Korea came via First Steps, a Canadian charity that has been working in the country for several years to combat malnutrition in young children.
Susan Ritchie, who set up First Steps, met ShelterBox founder Tom Henderson at this year's Rotary International conference in Salt Lake City and recommended the charity to the North Korean government.
Tom Henderson said: “North Korea is the 40th country to receive aid from ShelterBox. We operate irrespective of race, religion or political affiliation and that independence – as well as our links with the worldwide Rotary organisation – is one of the reasons we are able to operate in so many places.
“Our concern is the needs of people who have lost their homes as the result of a disaster – politics doesn’t matter when your house has been washed away – and we hope to be able to help further in North Korea in the future.”
Delivering aid on two continents
12th October: Members of ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) will be delivering aid in three countries on two continents over the coming days as the charity continues its response to disasters in Africa and South America.
Peru: A consignment of another 400 tents has just arrived in response to the earthquake that hit the country in August. The tents will be distributed by three SRT volunteers from the United States led by Wayne Robinson, a member of the first SRT to deliver ShelterBox aid to Peru's earthquake victims.
Somaliland: A three-man SRT is due to fly into Somaliland on Tuesday 16th October. The team will be delivering 230 ShelterBoxes of aid for families displaced by years of civil war who have fled to the breakaway neighbouring republic, which has provided a safe haven for huge numbers of displaced people.
The funds for 99 of the boxes sent to Somaliland were raised by schools from across the UK that had taken part in the Shelterbox Schools Project.
Uganda: ShelterBox has also sent 100 boxes to Uganda, where torrential rains that began in September have devastated the country’s Teso Region. As well as blankets, stoves and other essentials, the aid sent includes mosquito nets as one of the problems caused by the floods has been an increase in malaria and other diseases carried by mosquitoes that are breeding in the flood water.
The charity is working with the Rotary Club of Muyenga in Kampala and the Uganda Red Cross. A two-person SRT is due to leave on that deployment towards the end of next week.
