Appeal: Earthquakes in Lombok & Floods in Kerala Province

Earlier this month two areas were devastatingly hit by extreme floods and earthquakes. One of those areas, Kerala, situated in the southwestern tip of the Indian peninsula, has recorded a death toll estimated at over 400 and more than a million people displaced.

Kerala is one of the top tourist destinations in India and the floods have destroyed roads, airports, rail lines, all forcing tourists to cancel their visits.  The floods came without warning and no-one was prepared for the dramatic consequences.

Another area severely devastated, this time by earthquakes, was Lombok, an Indonesian island which lies east of Bali and west of Sumbawa.  These earthquakes have left dozens of people dead and hundreds more injured.  At least 270,000 men, women and children have been left homeless and urgently need shelter.

As soon as they heard of these terrible tragedies, Portishead Rotary Club took action to donate £500 to Aquabox for support in Kerala and £500 to Shelterbox for support in Lombok.  Aquabox, a charity formed in 1992, have distributed over 110,000 humanitarian aid boxes to countries around the world suffering from natural or man-made disasters, helping hundreds of thousands of people in times of crisis.  

Each box is designed for a family and contains over 70 humanitarian aid items in addition to an AquaFilter Family unit for providing safe drinking water, including – Shelter Materials and Tools, Blankets and Sheets, Cooking Utensils, Personal Hygiene Items, Baby and Children’s Clothing, Educational Items and Children’s Toys.

Shelterbox, founded in the year 2000, supporting those in need in Lombok, is an international disaster relief charity that provides temporary shelter and lifesaving supplies to displaced families.  

Each ShelterBox typically contains a tent designed to withstand extreme weather conditions, water purification kit, blankets, tools, and other necessities to help a family survive after a disaster.  The contents of a ShelterBox are tailored to the nature and location of the disaster.  ShelterBox Response Teams distribute boxes on the ground, working closely with local organisations, international aid agencies and Rotary clubs worldwide.   

Portishead Rotary Club have donated £1,000 to help Aquabox and Shelterbox to  purchase equipment for both of these disasters.    

We're on the ground right now and hope to provide tents and tarpaulins to help families who have lost everything. 

Rotary teams will be helping our volunteer Response Team to deliver the aid into the hands of the families who need it.     

click here to go to the MyDonate appeal site

Thank you for your support

What is Rotary?

Rotary has 33,000 clubs in 200 countries representing a network of 1.2 million neighbours, friends, and community leaders who come together to create positive, lasting change in our communities and around the world.

Our differing occupations, cultures, and countries give us a unique perspective. Our shared passion for service helps us accomplish the remarkable.

WHAT WE DO:

We work with youth to create our future leaders:

• by challenging our young to apply their skills. Through a number of national competitions we help them to achieve pride in their work.

We support those in our community:

• and look for projects which will make a difference to people’s lives.

We help local charities and causes raise funds for their projects:  

• we both organise fund-raising events and directly collect funds to help them carry out their work.

We aim to make a difference both here in Portishead and around the world.

HOW DO WE WORK?

Our impact starts with our members: people who work tirelessly within clubs like Portishead Rotary to solve some of our communities' toughest challenges. 

Our efforts are supplemented by Rotary International, our member association, and The Rotary Foundation, which in turn support our work around the world. 

Rotary is a “bottom-up”, member led, organisation where the focus is on making a difference locally at the same time as supporting projects across the world that make a difference to the communities they reach.

Our Club

The Rotary Club of Portishead meets every Tuesday evening at Clarence House for a meal and we normally have a speaker presenting a subject relevant to our work within the community

We also talk and plan what we can do for the local community as well as supporting projects located both in the UK and internationally.

Why not come to one of our meetings and find out what it is all about.

For more information, you can download our brochure or contact us via the "Join Rotary" link at the top right of this page. Alternatively you can phone our Membership Secretary: Lance Allen on 07789 478 300 or look at our noticeboard in Portishead Precinct

Click here to look at our Possett club newsletter

Do you shop online? – if so you can support us totally free!

Our club has registered with "Give as You Live” which has links with over 4000 retailers including all the major ones.  Every time you shop on line our registered Charity -The Rotary Club of Portishead Trust Fund - receives a commission which in turns helps us to support our many local good causes

To register please click on this link.  Please contact Rotarian Richard Bonfield if you require any assistance (07977 039912)

The good news is that it is totally free to you with the knowledge you will be supporting Rotary in the community