Thursday 4th September - NEPAL: ShelterBox has deployed a second response team to Nepal after severe flooding displaced an estimated 70,000 people. 224 boxes of aid have arrived in the disaster zone and are being distributed by ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members. A further 400 ShelterBoxes have been packed by volunteers in the warehouse at ShelterBox HQ, and are due to arrive this weekend. SRT member Mark Pearson provided the following report today from Itaari, Nepal, 30km west of the Indian border: “40,000 people in the Sunsari district and 20,000 people in Saptari are in need of shelter, and an additional 10,000 people have crossed from India into Nepal, moving north to Saptari.” He added: “As a length of dual carriageway has been damaged by the floods, the aid is being transported by helicopter and boat. Displaced people have been directed to higher ground by the Nepalese Army, where camps are being established.” The disaster was caused by heavy rains, which caused a breach on an embankment of the Kosi River.
Aerial view of the disaster zone in Nepal
Friday 22nd August - UKRAINE: ShelterBox Response Team members Shaun and Carol Halbert have returned from the Ukraine, where they had been distributing aid following severe flooding, which had displaced thousands of people. The team identified three main disaster zones - Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivske, and the Transcarpathian provinces, where the rivers Prut, Cheremosh, Tysa and Siret had flooded following heavy rainfall. River levels rose dramatically in a matter of hours. Many families were in a state of shock after watching their homes being washed away or destroyed by landslides caused by the floods. ShelterBox delivered 220 boxes of aid, providing shelter and essential equipment for survival for more than 2,000 people. As well as the ten-man tents to provide shelter, the water purification systems and blankets were of particular importance due to reported cases of waterborne diseases and temperatures that dropped severely after dark.
Damage caused by flooding in the Ukraine
Thursday 21st August - MYANMAR: Three months on from Cyclone Nargis, ShelterBox's last team in Myanmar has returned. ShelterBox is thought to have been the first aid agency to enter Myanmar after the disaster struck in May this year. Five successive ShelterBox Response Teams (SRT) were deployed to Myanmar to deliver the aid. SRT member Ian Neal was in the first team to enter the country, and also in ShelterBox’s last team to leave, arriving at the charity’s HQ yesterday. Firefighter and SRT member Ian Neal, who was accompanied by GP and SRT member Jane Nash, said: “On this last deployment, we were based in Labutta, where ‘Three Mile Camp’ is home to more than 5,000 survivors of the cyclone. Each day, we travelled out to the remote villages of the Irrawaddy Delta to deliver the much-needed ShelterBoxes.” ShelterBox sent more than 2,000 boxes of aid to Myanmar following the cyclone, providing shelter for more than 25,000 people. ShelterBox also worked with the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) to provide a number of fishing nets.
ShelterBox worked with ACTED to provide aid in Myanmar.
Thursday 7th August - UKRAINE: ShelterBox has responded to news of severe flooding in Central and Eastern Europe by sending much-needed aid for the estimated 30,000 people who have been displaced by the disaster. ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members Shaun and Carol Halbert, from Truro, Cornwall, flew to Budapest in Hungary this week and are travelling into the disaster zone to carry out an assessment of the need for aid in the affected areas. ShelterBox plans to send 200 boxes of aid overland from the UK to the Ukraine, containing essentials such as ten-man tents, blankets, cooking equipment, tools and water purification kits. Shaun Halbert, ShelterBox Response Team, said: “We are currently in Rakhiv in the Ukraine, which is close to the Romanian border. Here, around 85 homes have been destroyed or severely damaged in flooding and resulting landslides. Next, we will travel further into the disaster zone to the more remote villages, to assess their situation and need for aid."
Damage caused by flooding in the Ukraine
Tuesday 29th July - SWAZILAND: ShelterBox Operations Manager Lasse Petersen has arrived in Swaziland, southern Africa, where he will progress the charity’s work to help AIDS orphans as part of ShelterBox’s A Million in Africa project. ShelterBox is working with The National Emergency Response Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), an initiative of the government of Swaziland, which was set up in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. According to NERCHA, almost 40% of adults in Swaziland are HIV positive and life expectancy is just 39 years. As a result, NERCHA estimate that Swaziland has almost 70,000 AIDS orphans and around 15,000 child-headed families, where older children are caring for their younger siblings. ShelterBox aims to help relieve the extreme poverty that these children are living in by providing items such as tents, cooking and water purfication equipment, blankets and clothing, mosquito nets, tools, school packs and toys. The charity will begin a rolling programme in Swaziland commencing late summer, with successive teams delivering and distributing aid. Lasse Petersen said: “There is an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Africa that we can help to relieve by providing shelter and basic equipment for survival. We are looking to build on our initial consignments to Swaziland, to establish a larger, ongoing project that would potentially help every AIDS orphan in the country.”
ShelterBox tents in Three Mile Camp, Myanmar
Tuesday 29th July - MYANMAR: ShelterBox Response Team Training Manager Ed Cox has returned from a successful two-week deployment to Myanmar, to continue the charity’s work following Cyclone Nargis. Ed Cox spent three days in Bangkok, where he worked with representatives from the World Food Programme (WFP) to transport the aid by air into Yangon, Myanmar. He then travelled to Yangon to meet with two other SRT members – Mark Curnow and Martin Jackson, both from the UK – to work with the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED), arranging the delivery of the aid to Labutta. A team of three SRT members – Adrian Sumner and John Pearson from the UK, and Rick Commisso from the USA – has now been deployed to Myanmar to work in three locations across the Irrawaddy Delta in which the aid will be distributed. The team will teach local representatives how to erect the tents and use the equipment supplied. Ed Cox said: “ShelterBox Response Teams have been working hard to ensure the delivery of vital aid to those who have been displaced by Cyclone Nargis, and we will continue to work in Myanmar while the need remains.”
Out of a community of 300 these 30 survivors begin to rebuild their homes with the help of ShelterBox, Labutta - Myanmar July 08
Wednesday 9th July - MYANMAR: ShelterBox can confirm the arrival of 35,000kgs of aid into Bangkok ready for the airbridge into Yangon. ShelterBox Response Team member and training manager Ed Cox will be joining up with the aid to ensure its safe delivery. Two SRT's (Mark Curnow & Martin Jackson both UK) make up the fourth team to enter Myanmar and have arrived safely today for a handover with photo-journalist and SRT member Mark Pearson who has been in country for one month. Back at the warehouse volunteers are packing more classrooms in a box, tool kits, mosquito nets, water carriers and groundsheets that will be flying in to Yangon on Thurs 17th.
The Irrawaddy Delta river banks swollen with Monsoon water - Myanmar 08
Wednesday 9th July - SUDAN: As part of ShelterBoxes ongoing 'Million in Africa' program 100 boxes were sent to Sudan earlier in the month and have now arrived at their final destination in Agok, Sudan today. Logistics were challenging to say the least - boxes were held up by customs, the plane they were on broke down, a ban on Russian planes then followed due to a crash! But true to the ShelterBox mission we got them there.
1st July - CHINA: ShelterBox Response Team Leader Dave Hallet (Canada) with Ron & Claire Noseworthy (Canada) and Lizzy Treglown, Cornwall (UK) are distributing 730 ShelterBox tents to remote areas of Gansu province (North of Sichuan). Gansu province reportedly has received little if any aid – but also suffered significant damage.
Monday 30th June - MYANMAR: Packing has commenced in the warehouse today as ShetlerBox plans to revisit Myanmar at the request from ShelterBox Response Team members on the ground. It is confirmed that the need for continued aid is still vital. The monsoon season now follows the devastating Cyclone Nargis making the already desperate situation unbearable for the surviving victims. ShelterBox will respond again with wood burning stoves, schools boxes (approximately 4,000 schools destroyed), tents and boxes (currently used by the fishermen for storage of fish).
Thursday 26th June - MYANMAR: Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar in early May leaving an estimated 150,000 dead and over 2 million left homeless and having lost their livelihood as 500,000 acres of rice farmland areas were swamped by a large seawater tidal surge. To summarize our progress in Myanmar Operation Manager Lasse Petersen says, "While the UN and most NGO’s could not gain access into Myanmar, ShelterBox was able to; immediately obtain as many visa’s as we wanted for our volunteers, bring almost 100 tonnes of ShelterBoxes into the Myanmar and be involved in delivery of boxes and establishing ShelterBox tent camps in some of the areas in the Irrawaddy Delta worst affected by Cyclone Nargis." He adds, "Initially ShelterBox sent 648 boxes. (200 boxes had 2 tents hence total was 848 tents). Thereafter ShelterBox chartered a DC10 from East Midlands to Yangon to deliver a further 1050 ShelterBoxes (Approx. total commitment so far provides shelter for almost 20,000)." To summarize to date 8 SRT’s have deployed in Myanmar including SRT’s from UK, USA & Australia. ShelterBox holds visa’s for several other SRT’s and currently has personnel in Myanmar with further aid delivery to disaster victims in progress.
In the last few days SRT Mark Pearson delivered further boxes to devastated areas of the Irrawaddy Delta.
Wednesday 25th June - CHINA: The major earthquake which struck Sichuan province in China on May 12 caused fatalities exceeding 80,000 with an estimated 5 million homeless or displaced. ShelterBox personnel were able to obtain visas with assistance and support from Beijing Rotary Club and the China Charity Federation. ShelterBox Operations Manager Lasse Petersen gives his progress update, "ShelterBox initially sent 800 ShelterBoxes but thereafter further ramped up support for China earthquake victims with total delivery now in excess of 4,400 tents. (Some tents were able to be sent directly by rail from our tent manufacturers in Shanghai). Four SRT teams to date have been deployed in China including 16 SRT members from UK, Australian and Canada. Distribution of assistance for China is currently continuing."
Tuesday 10th June - BELIZE: Two US ShelterBox Response Team members Wayne Robinson & John Mackie have made an initial assessment of the needs of the people of Belize following tropical storm 'Arthur' which caused flooding to populated areas.
Tuesday 10th June - MYANMAR: ShelterBox continues to be active in supporting the victims of Cyclone Nargis... plans to return are underway.
ShelterBoxes arriving in China
Tuesday 10th June - CHINA: ShelterBox is currently operating in the Qingchuan area 8hrs North East of Chengdu. Some of the remote mountain villages surrounding Qingchuan have received ShelterBoxes. A third ShelterBox Response Team are ready to deploy and should arrive for an in-country handover with team leader Greg Rogers in the next 48hrs. Team three includes one Australian member Paul Robinson and two UK members Graham Henderson & Mike Grenslade. Operations Manager Lasse Petersen commented on the great assistance the China Charity Federation and Rotary have been to ShelterBox throughout this series of deployments.
Bill Chiang ex Rotary San Francisco member now living in China pictured with Team 2 (left to right): Peter Leach, Gary Macafferty, Phil Davies, Greg Rogers
Thursday 29th May- CHINA: A further 650 tents left ShelterBox HQ yesterday with 650 planned to leave today and 700 due to leave immediately from the tent manufacturers warehouse in Shanghai.
800 ShelterBoxes begin to arrive in remote areas un-reached by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in China...
Tuesday 27th May - CHINA: The immediate response by ShelterBox of 800 boxes to China is finally reaching some of the Sichuan Provinces worst hit villages. The distribution of the first 200 boxes began today by the 4-man ShelterBox Response Team on the ground. The first consignment of boxes where split into two lots of 100.
Pat Prendergast, Team Leader (photographed), reported on the two villages of Pengzhou & Bailu that the aid is reaching, he comments, “tents are up and the locals are extremely happy, they are no doubt going to be under canvas for sometime, ShelterBox tents are creating an excellent base.” He adds, “The Chinese people we have met have been brilliant, sadly though we can only help a few thousand of this vast population – more tents are desperately needed.”
One SRT, Tom Lay reported “The people are too scared to live in the town and have spread themselves along the mountain pass, we spoke to the Mayor of a small community who were in need of 3000 tents, but he said people further up the mountain were in more desperate need and we should use the ShelterBox equipment there, an attitude of the people here that they have all joined together to help each other.”
Back at HQ in Cornwall the volunteers are busily unpacking a mixed selection of tents supplied from Vango who are pulling all the stops out to supply as many tents as possible, ironically back to the country of origin. Volunteers are the life blood of ShelterBox and the commitment to help is certainly what is driving this large scale logistics operation forward. The unpacking and re-stocking and the swift turn around in the warehouse is what makes the immediate response possible. In Chengdu, the base camp for the ShelterBox Response Team, several aftershocks have been experienced – the highly motivated and trained responders are coping well and reporting to HQ on a daily basis.
Access to Myanmar still open to ShelterBox...
The village of Kyien Kyaung Gyi, Myanmar where approx. 30 tents had been erected. The leader of this village lost his wife and all six children to the storm - water levels exceeded 15ft.
Two SRT's return to Garissa, Kenya to find tents in good shape!
Graham Higginson and Andrew Biss (both from Cornwall) returned to Kenya during May to assess the ShelterBox tents that were distributed during the severe river floods 18 months ago. The tents have alleviated the re-settlement of the locals who moved from the flood plains. This is Graham's third mission to help in North East Kenya, his trip with newly qualified Andrew Biss included visiting the internally displaced people at the recently established Nakuru camp, 200km North West of Nairobi and the 190,000 (approx) Somalian refuges at Daddab.
Thursday 22nd May - Myanmar: ShelterBox can confirm that the majority of the ShelterBox tents have now been used in the two worst hit disaster areas of Labutta & Bogale. Considering the circumstances the first stage of the mission was completed; getting the most boxes of aid into the country in the initial stages of the disaster. Importantly a realistic pipeline for more ShelterBoxes to enter the country under the guidance of the local authorities has now been established.
A local doctor inspects ShelterBox tents in the worst hit areas of Bogale & labutta, following Cyclone Nargis, Myanmar
Tuesday 20th May - China: Two SRT's Pat Prendergast (Swindon) and Tom Lay (Somerset) are now on their way from Beijing to Chengdu, they will meet with one other international SRT member Peter Clouting (Aus), they are travelling into a disaster area the size of Spain.
The two SRT's stood for a 3 minute silence in Tiananmen Square yesterday along with thousands of mourners and explained back to HQ, "that the need for vital immediate relief aid such as 'ShelterBox' is essential at this critical time as thousands of people need shelter and are exposed to the elements in a state of shock."
Back at HQ the relief effort to get to the most needy within the rescue period is on high alert, volunteers have again been packing around the clock. Tom Henderson, founder & CEO, will travel in the morning, to the Chinese Embassy to co-ordinate the transportation of as many boxes as donors can give.
Latest statics suggest that the devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck southwest China on May 12, killed more than 14,500 people and has injured thousands more in one town alone. A 5-magnitude 'after shock' shook the Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu days later where the ShelterBox Response Team members are headed. Reports of more aftershocks and heavy rain loom over the relief effort and the team on the ground.
04:00 Friday 16th May and the DC10 is unloaded in Myanmar
ShelterBox Response Team members Ian Neal & Terry Rea UK firemen
Local authorities helping with the unloading
ShelterBox Charter Plane DC10
China Earthquake - immediate response from HQ
Friday 16th May: ShelterBox has made an initial commitment of 400 boxes to assist the earthquake victims in China. Boxes will be channeled in through Hong Kong and Beijing Rotary Clubs and the China Charity Federation. The boxes are destined for Chengdu City in the Sichuan Province.
Persistence and patience is gradually paying off in Myanmar...
News from SRT Leader Ian Neal on the ground in Yangon: "All teams now trained in Yangon on Shelterbox contents and setting up of tents. Planned distribution 500 + 50 blue boxes to Ngaputaw, Haigyi Island SW Delta region, 250 boxes to Labutta Delta, 250 Bogale. The boxes will be transported straight off the aircraft onto trucks and then into affected areas with the local staff in field."
News from SRT Patrick Olson on board the flight to Yangon: "I'm currently on 12-hr crew rest in Kyrgyzstan. ETA for Yangon is Friday 04:00. My flight crew estimates a 5-8 hour unloading. To my knowledge, David Eby and I are two of the very few US citizens with visas to enter Myanmar."
US SRT's Patrick Olson & David Eby loading the plane at East Midlands Airport
Wednesday 14th - 15th, East Midlands Airport: ShelterBox, last night chartered a DC 10 aid flight through DHL which loaded at East Midlands Airport, UK prior to departing at 23:00 for Myanmar. East Midlands Airport waived the landing fees for the charity, ground crew were impressed with the ease of loading the 'ShelterBox'. On board are 1050 shelterboxes along with Patrick Olson a USA SRT member who will be accompanying the boxes and joining with the existing Shelterbox team already in Myanmar. One other US SRT member, David Eby, will also arrive on Friday morning.
May 12th-13th, Myanmar: ShelterBox has permission to land its charter plane at Yangon Airport. On board are the first two US ShelterBox Response Team members to join ShelterBoxes in-country team. ShelterBoxes four man team who have been in Yangon for five days with 644 boxes of vital aid have confirmed that the boxes containing tents, mosquito nets, tools, water purification tablets and other essential equipment are now being distributed into the Delta region by the Burmese authorities.
A further delivery of ‘Disaster Relief Aid’ consisting of 1000 boxes is to be flown direct from East Midlands Airport on the evening of the 14th May. ShelterBox has chartered a plane through DHL and confirms the clearance to land for this vital aid along with two American SRT members; Rotarian Patrick Olson (Michigan) and David Eby (Nashville) an experienced SRT who will replenish the UK team.
Over the past five days the four man team on the ground has worked tirelessly with the services to get the aid moving, Cornish fireman Ian Neal (team leader) created a ‘train the trainer’ session with the Burmese fire services and authorities and although progress has been slow it has been positive as a ‘people to people’ link has been established.
A view of the warehouse on Monday - thank you Volunteers!
May 9th - Myanmar: ShelterBox can confirm we have successful delivered over £300,000 worth of survival aid - however much more is needed. ShelterBox plans to charter an airplane to get a further 1000 boxes to the desperate people of Burma in the worst hit areas and much more as the donations come in. As one of the first Aid Organisations into the country who also obtained visas and a clear and helpful path from the Embassy ShelterBox is in an ideal position help.
May 8th - Myanmar: ShelterBox team of four response members are safely on the ground, the boxes have been located at the airport and at first light the SRT's will be assessing the much needed distribution.
May 7th - Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy Delta on Saturday is now reported to have killed close to 22,500 and left 41,000 missing. ShelterBox today responses by continuing to pack a further 200 boxes bringing the total number of tents to 844 - the team of four ShelterBox Response Team members are on their way.
May 6th - Myanmar (Burma): ShelterBox responds immediately to the devastating cyclone to hit Myanmar. 22,000 lives are reported to have been lost and 95% of houses are destroyed as the cyclone swept in-land after several days at sea. 224 boxes left from the pre-positioned site in Dubai over the weekend, 220 boxes have left from Melbourne, Australia and a further 200 boxes with two tents each were packed this morning at the ShelterBox HQ in Helston, Cornwall. A team of four SRT members are making arrangements to assist with the difficult distribution of vital aid.
Ecuador experiences a giant landslide of mud and rocks...
A rope slung from one side of the ravine to the other at 3,000m is the only line of communication for a village cut off by a devastating landslide with many fatalities, to the right of the picture is a man on a seat crossing the opening.
April 17th - 24th, Ecuador: ShelterBoxes reached a remote and forgotten area of Ecuador called Loja. SRT members Carol & Shaun Halbert travelled to this once tranquil high-altitude mountain village now wiped out by powerful landslides to deliver much needed aid. Houses that once clung to the picturesque sloping hills had been completely washed away in a river of mud and rocks. No help had been given to these villagers who had been cut off from the open ravine created by the slide. Despite their tragic circumstances the local community rallied to demonstrate their appreciation by presenting the ShelterBox Response Team with one mountain flower for each tent erected. As news spread it was decided by the SRT's on the ground that six more boxes could reach a small group in a desperate situation a further 80 kilometres higher in the scared village of El Cisne 3,000m above sea level.
Bolivian teenagers shuttle boxes across a flooded river...
Boxes being transported across a flooded river North of Santa Cruz, Bolivia to isolated families.
April 17th - Bolivia: ShelterBox's SRT members are now safely home and have confirmed the successful delivery of 200 boxes distributed to the areas in most need 100kms North of Santa Cruz.
Encouraging messages from South America...
April 8th - Bolivia: Communication from this area is difficult but our ShelterBox Response Team (comprising of UK's Shaun Halbert & Tom Lay and US John Mackie) have been spotted carrying out the safe delivery of aid by a medical student Sara Jalali who writes to us, "One of the biggest challenges I felt while in Bolivia was providing medical care may sometimes only be a temporary fix, without larger structural changes these peoples' lives will not get better. What you guys do, however, provides realistic, sustainable tools to maintain health and safety. I want to thank you for doing what you do in the world. I really admire the work and the mission."
April 8th - Afghanistan: Anticipated floods will follow the heavy winter snowfall. ShelterBox remains on alert for a return visit to distribute a further 200 boxes when needed.
April 7th - Swaziland: Larry Agee US SRT leader, Carol Halbert & Rachael Rodda have all returned safely from their deployment to Swaziland where they helped deliver aid to the Aids Orphan population.
March 11th - Ecuador: Since December Ecuador has experienced it's heaviest rains in 25 years, leading to swelling rivers and devastating floods. Disasters relating to 'la Nina' have effected 3.5 million people with the worst hit area being the coastal regions and especially provinces such as Los Rios - ShelterBox has responded by sending a ShelterBox Response Team and 200 boxes.
Much needed aid is welcomed in Afghanistan...
March 10th - Kabul: Hundreds of displaced Afghan families receive ShelterBoxes containing tents, winter clothing, blankets and woodburning stoves which were distributed by ACTED and the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation at Bar-E-Kohab camp near Bagram Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday 9th March, 2008. (Picture By Mark Pearson/ShelterBox).
Afghan women & children captured on film during the arrival of aid.
Little infant holding onto her box (above)
A family can now begin to make a home...
A successful mission - at home...
March 5th - Helston: Back at Helston HQ, the latest nine day ShelterBox Response Team training course was completed two days ago. This training course was the most comprehensive run yet with 'trainers' from Vango, DHL, and Culdrose military personnel along with ShelterBox staff and existing SRT's. Eleven new SRT's completed the course and now look forward to the opportunity to deploy with our existing SRT volunteers.
Successful candidates with Ed Cox ShelterBox Training Manager.
February 27th - Kabul, Afghanistan: In Kabul, Shelterbox meets with the Ministry of Refugees and working alongside ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) 358 families will each recieve a ShelterBox providing, warmth, shelter and dignity. 55 of the families identified were living in the open in the sub-zero conditions...
A little child treading carefully across the snow, ice & mud...
A year to the day, aid leaves for Bolivia...
February 27th - Bolivia: The government in Bolivia declared a state of emergency with close to 60,000 families affected by heavy flooding. Over the last couple of days Helston based ShelterBox volunteers have packed boxes equipped with aid to help some of these families whose homes where washed away when, yet again rivers burst their banks after sustained and frequent rainfall.
200 ShelterBoxes are currently leaving the warehouse, the ShelterBox Response Team managers are planning the often difficult deployment details for the safe and much needed distribution. Due to the location it is likely that ShelterBox will call on their American response team members, trained here in Helston and the US, to carry out the important and gruelling work in Bolivia.
Many families have been cut off from surrounding areas after refusing to be evacuated from their homes despite rising water levels. The most affected region is Beni where over 13,000 people have been flooded out of their accommodation.
Santa Cruz was badly affected after rivers swelled to ‘extreme’ leaving thousands of stranded families to be evacuated to camps and shelters. Of those who have been rescued and taken to camps, hundreds are suffering from waterborne diseases and other illnesses.
Shelters and camps are currently improvised by the survivors, and despite mattresses and food supplies being distributed by the municipality it is not enough. Hundreds of children are living in sub-standard, temporary accommodation, with poor sanitation plagued with mosquitoes.
Hailstorms, flash & severe floods, along with animal plagues have caused devastation among communities and destroyed agricultural land. Women and children under five-years old are treated as a priority and are in desperate need of shelter along with other essentials to help to rebuild their homes.
February 15th - Swaziland: ShelterBox has visited camps that received aid last year in the St Philips area. The recipients of the boxes were very pleased with the content and quality of the ShelterBox they received. ShelterBox Response Team members also assessed a school with major damage, for the distribution of School in a Box this weekend.
-30 degrees, covered in snow, wet and homeless in Afghanistan...
February 15th - Kabul: ShelterBox's experienced SRT member & photo-journalist, Mark Pearson, has been making an intrepid expedition over the last two days to the worst effected area of Western Afghanistan. On his arrival to Kabul earlier in the week he met with ACTED & Rotary who described the snowfall was the worst in 60 years with many fatalities. He met many of the displaced families from the Helmand Province gathered in the city with no shelter, their clothes were wet, children had no shoes and were looking unwell in temperatures Mark could only describe as a "Baltic freezer" he added "there is always so much more to do in the regions but with these terrible weather conditions even the city is affected." Local people were helping with what little they had. ShelterBox HQ is actively packing up vital aid of tents and warmth to be sent over the next few days. Additional SRT members will join Mark in-field with the army to make further assessments.
Families huddle with little or no shelter...
What would normally be an idyllic scene - the depth is as high as the pole...
February 8th - Mozambique: A consignment of 170 boxes containing tents and equipment leaves the ShelterBox HQ today making its way to Mozambique to assist with the devastating floods seen recently on World news. Many homes and schools were lost to the flood water across Southern Africa. Along with the supply of temporary shelter five 'Schools in a Box' will arrive, giving the children the vital opportunity to regain stability.
A ShelterBox camp for African families effected by flood...
February 6th - Copperbelt, Zambia: Team leader Lasse Patersen returns for Zambia after a successful distribution in the Southern Provinces of Zambia around Livingstone, Kazungula and Sesheke. Two USA Shelterbox team member, Mike Freeman & Wayne Robinson today will deliver the remaining boxes in Zambia's Copperbelt region around Ndola.
A proud ShelterBox owner begins to rebuild his home...
ShelterBox camp at Kazungula for displaced flood families
Flooded homes in Kassaye, Zambia
Zambia experiences heaviest rain fall since 1958...
February 4th - Kazungula, Zambia: A three man ShelterBox Response Team have delivered 200 boxes into Zambia following the Southern Provinces heaviest rain fall since 1958. The rains caused thousands of homes to collapse or be washed away. ShelterBox responded by setting up a camp at Kuzungula and are awaiting more news from the SRT's on the ground.
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