Tents top priority in Haiti

It is now five weeks since Haiti was rocked by a catastrophic earthquake and there is still an urgent need for secure shelter which can stand up to the Haitian climate.

Haiti February 2010

ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) member Jane Nash has just returned from Port au Prince. She says the importance of getting people into tents cannot be underestimated.

'The rains are going to be really hard and it is going to take a long time to get transitional housing up and running. Our tents will withstand heavy rain. Would you want to be in a tarpaulin sheet in a torrential downpour when the ground will be soaked? The look on one woman's face when I gave her a tent was like it was the best thing she had ever had, 'said Jane.

ShelterBox General Manager Lasse Petersen, who has also just returned from Port au Prince, added: 'At present the vast majority of people left homeless have yet to receive even plastic sheeting. These families need immediate emergency shelter rather than becoming caught up in policy debates.

'A tent, as we've already seen, can be a life saving difference to many of the most vulnerable during what is likely to become a very lengthy wait for anything more permanent. It's vital we continue our efforts in Haiti; tents are the number one priority.'

So far, more than 7,000 ShelterBoxes and disaster relief tents have been distributed in Haiti and another 1,200 are due to arrive in Port au Prince, Haiti's capital, by Friday. The SRT in Port au Prince already has a planned distribution in place for these boxes.

ShelterBox has committed another 5,000 tents to Haiti, which will provide shelter for another 50,000 people. These will start arriving at the end of February. ShelterBox tents undergo rigorous testing and will be able to stand up to the spring rains which will soon descend on Haiti.

Long-term commitment

On February, Tuesday 16, SRT members Mike Greenslade (AU) and Dave Ray (UK), who are in Port au Prince, worked closely with community leaders and the Red Falcon, US 82nd Airborne to distribute 180 ShelterBoxes.

Mike said: 'We could not have achieved a safe distribution without the 82nd Airbourne. The soldiers of Red Falcon ensured that boxes went to the most needy in the camp.

'Conditions in the camp are amongst the worst I've seen with people living cheek by jowl, camping out on piles of rubble, surrounded by rubbish and rotting waste. In this space people have to wash, cook, eat and sleep, many with no more than a bed sheet for overhead cover.

'This picture is replicated throughout Port au Prince and the outlying affected by the quake. There are not enough tents to go round and the consensus is that when the rains come we will have a second emergency on our hands.'

http://www.shelterbox.org/news.php?id=257

Stuart NicolContact Stuart Nicol about this page:

(ALL fields required)

(If you are a Rotarian, please name your club.)

Related pages...

Malawi Project

more The club received a District Grant in September 2023 to progress this project

Cambodia School Fundraiser

more Team West Fife participation in the 2022 Edinburgh Kiltwalk raised £8190

International Report to 2023 AGM

more As reported by convenor Donald Mackay

Support for Turkey and Syria

more West Fife donated £1000 to DEC appeal

International Service Report 2021-202

more Report to 2022 AGM by Donald Mackay

2021 Haiti Earthquake Relief

more West Fife Rotarians have donated £500 to Haiti Help to assist recovery after two natural disasters in two days in the Republic of Haiti.

.

Help for the young people of Cambodia.

more Support for school in Cambodia who reported they have been severely hit by the Covid virus

Books Abroad

more The last consignment of books sent arrived recently in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe where we can be sure they will be put to good use. Please keep them coming in.

Club supports Global Eye Solutions

more West Fife adds its support for District initiative

Malawi Tool Project

more Call to support of The Ecology Centre and The Rotary Club of Cowdenbeath

Recycle goods for Haiti Help

more Please donate recycle items to help local nurses' initiative helping orphans and elderly in Haiti

.

Club’s support for Lebanon

more Rotary Club of West Fife immediately made a donation of £1000 to Islamic Relief

KT School Senior Pupils

Report on International & Foundation

more Convenor Donald Mackay's report to the 2020 AGM

.

International Service Projects

more Proposals as set out by Convenor Donald Mackay to Club Assembly

Children in Malawi study after dark using solar lights supplied by the Rotary Club of West Fife

Final Report to District on Malawi

more This report was submitted to District in November 2017

.

AGM Convener Reports April 2017

more What happened during the Rotary year

.

Assembly Report 2016

more Proposals for Rotary Year commencing 1 July 2016

.

AGM International report 2016

more This page shows the exciting work being done by the club to help provide power to remote villages in Malawi

Update on Malawi Project

more On Alex Evan Wong's return from Malawi he has written this update.

.

Report to Club Assembly 2015

more Proposed activities in the Rotary Year 2015/16

.

April 2015 Nepal Earthquake

more West Fife's support to help the April 2015 Nepal Earthquake survivors

,

Foundation and International Programme 2013-2014

more DRAFT ACTIVITIES 1) Monthly wine draw ------- volunteer awaited 2) Foundation box - ---- ---volunteer awaited 3) Five-a-side Football and Summer Fete Saturday 27th July

.

Report of Foundation-International Committee AGM 2013

more There are always ongoing projects and requirements within Foundation and International and so it possible for the Club to support these.

.

Shelterboxes for Haiti

more Rotary Club of West Fife sends four Shelterboxes in response to appeal

.

PP Ian Grieve goes to Nyumbani

more Ian Grieve goes to Kenya, February 2012

2011 Shoebox Appeal

more Woodmill High School help bring in the boxes

.

Founder visits Shelterbox in Haiti

more ShelterBox Founder and Rotarian Tom Henderson has seen first hand how ShelterBox tents are providing shelter to families who have lost everything in Haiti.

.

2010 Pakistan Flood Appeal

more The RIBI Donations Trust has set up a Pakistan Flood Appeal with the express purpose of raising funds to aid the affected communities

Nyumbani Village

International Plans 2006-2007

more Major disasters oversees have once again been in the news in the past year,

.

South- East Asia Tsunami

more Members were pleased to hear that consignments of Shelterboxes had already gone to Sri Lanka and India

.

RIBI response to 2004 Tsunami Disaster

more The earthquake and subsequent tsunami is, arguably, the worst natural disaster to strike our planet in the one hundred years of Rotary’s existence.

Concluding Report on 2003 Matching Grant in Bangladesh

more The project helped to provide school furniture to the primary schools.

back to page above this...

Haiti February 2010

International Service

back International Service Projects