Rotary Clubs Provide Emergency Shelters, Supplies To Cyclone Victims

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10th May 2008, 06:00am - Views: 835





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Rotary Clubs Provide Emergency Shelters, Supplies to Cyclone Victims


EVANSTON, Ill., May 10 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --


   Shelterbox among the first international relief groups to reach stricken Myanmar


    As major relief agencies waited for access to cyclone ravaged Myanmar, among the first charities actually

to reach the affected area was Shelterbox, a grassroots disaster relief organization supported by Rotary

clubs around the world.

    A specially trained team of volunteers was on the ground Thursday (May 8) preparing to distribute more

than 800 Shelterbox containers, each providing a tent, blankets, a multi-fueled stove, a water purification kit,

tools and other necessities to help a family of 10 survive for six months. Some containers carried two 10-

person tents, doubling the shelter capacity. The first Shelterbox deployment will benefit more than 10,000

people.

    Shelterbox founder and Rotary club member Tom Henderson says 224 containers left a pre-positioned

site in Dubai on Tuesday. Another 220 boxes left from Melbourne, Australia, while 400 are in route from

Shelterbox headquarters in Cornwall, England. 

    Beth Palmer, executive director of Shelterbox USA, the charity’s regional affiliate in Lakewood Ranch,

Fla., says her phone has been "ringing off the hook" as U.S. Rotary club members call to donate in the wake

of the disaster. She also notes a spike in online donations. Similar reports came from Shelterbox offices in

Australia, Canada and Germany.

    Henderson says the team will work in cooperation with local groups in Myanmar to line up transportation

and determine where the shelters will do the most good amid the massive devastation, which includes

estimates of up to 100,000 deaths, 70,000 people missing, and the destruction of entire communities,

leaving tens of thousands of people homeless.

    Shelterbox started in 2001 as a modest project by the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard, England, and quickly

garnered support among Rotary clubs worldwide. To date Shelterbox has raised $29 million and delivered

aid to 40 countries in response to more than 70 disasters. Each Shelterbox container costs $1,000 to


information.


SOURCE  Rotary International

    

    CONTACT: USA: Wayne Hearn of Rotary International, 

             +1-847-866-3386, 

             wayne.hearn@rotary.org; 


             or UK: Sally Grint of Shelterbox, 

             +44 (0) 1326 569782, 

             Mobile: +44 (0) 7793 803643, 

             publicity@shelterbox.org


  Web site:  http://www.rotary.org

             http://www.shelterbox.org  


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