RESPONDING TO EMERGENCIES
Appeals for help may come from the authorities in a disaster area, via another aid agency or through a local Rotary club.
Decisions will then be made on how many boxes we can send, what should be in the boxes – and how to get the aid where it is needed. The number of boxes we can send is limited by the funds available but our aim is always to provide immediate aid wherever possible.
However, we can only distribute aid within safe and achievable operating parameters. Where necessary, we will take advice from the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and other relevant bodies.
Getting aid to its destination
Boxes are generally flown from the UK to the country where a disaster has taken place.
Aid is delivered to the actual disaster area by whatever means are most effective – a decision often based on advice from local Rotary clubs and made in the field by the ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) that are delivering the aid.
SRTs will charter vehicles locally and work with any appropriate organisations. These could include: other aid agencies; local armed forces, police and government bodies; Rotary and other local non-governmental bodies.
Where needed, SRTs are used to finding alternative forms of transport – whether using mules in the mountains of Kashmir or building rafts in Sri Lanka.
Help for all
Disasters take no account of political, ethnic, cultural or religious boundaries. ShelterBox responds to disasters in the same way – whether the emergency is the result of a natural event or man-made.
We have no political or religious affiliation. Our priority is the victims of the disaster: families and individuals who have often lost their possessions and livelihoods as well as their homes.
In partnership
ShelterBox works with many partners - in particular Rotary organisations around the world. As well as our own emergency response operations, we also support projects by other NGOs where these fit with our own aim of bringing shelter, warmth and comfort to those affected by disasters.
For example, we have provided tents and other material to help the Mines Awareness Trust with their operations to clear unexploded ordnance and train de-miners in former conflict zones.
