SRT field reports
Since the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, volunteers from ShelterBox have deployed to countries all over the world - ensuring aid gets to those people who need the most help.
Each deployment is different and has its own challenges and rewards. Apart from the damage caused by the disaster there are all kinds of other issues that can cause hold up an SRT team - language, logisitics, climate, local officialdom etc.
Every team has to learn on its feet and find the best way of making sure our boxes reach their destination. But for all of them the end result is the same - knowing that their efforts have brought new hope to people who have sometimes lost everything.
The reports below give some different perspectives - some practical, some personal - on what its like in the field. Click on the links to read more or click here to return to the main ShelterBox Response Team page.
Adrian Sumner is a former RAF pilot who led the first SRT to be deployed. |
Sri Lanka: tsunami, January 2005 "Once the deployment was over, the long journey back across Sri Lanka by minibus gave all the team valuable time to reflect on the previous two weeks whilst still in theatre. "Work with the SRT will produce life-changing experiences, and visual images, which will stay with you forever.Remember to capture the magical moments for posterity and your own memories, there will be many!" |
John Green is a police superintendent who has also deployed to Java and is closely involved in SRT training. |
USA: hurricane, September 2005 "With most events of this nature, communications are inevitably troublesome. This was no exception. The team was operating in an area where all power was lost, all telephone lines down and all mobile phone masts destroyed. "The mobile phones were effective outside the working area but of no use inside. Landline telephony, in the early stages, was sporadic. This improved as the days passed due to the incredible work of the relevant companies." |
Mark Smith is a police sergeant based in Truro. He has also been deployed in Bolivia and the Philippines. |
"On Saturday 27th May 2006 I was working at Truro Police Station when I saw the first live feeds on Sky news of an earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale that had hit Java. "I rang Tom Henderson to see if he had seen the news... and 72 hours later found myself stood in the Bantul district of Yogyakarta, the worst-hit area of Java where 3,580 of the 6,000 people who died had perished and 95% of all structures had been demolished or left in a very dangerous state." |
John and Trannie Lacquey are from Branford in Florida, where they run their own business. |
"On the way our truck got stuck. We unloaded boxes, dug the truck out and reloaded the boxes and continued on our way just two-and-a-half hours later....
"It's about helping people as humanely as possible - to give them some comfort in time of need and to help them keep their dignity. It's remembering that it's not how you got the mission accomplished but that you got it accomplished." |
