800 ShelterBoxes begin to arrive in remote areas un-reached by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in China
29/05/08 20:50 Filed in: Reports
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.
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.
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