LONDON, January 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Forty tonnes of emergency aid is being flown to Haiti from Newquay Cornwall Airport as ShelterBox's massive aid operation to the earthquake-stricken country continues.
Media are invited to St Mawgan House, Newquay Cornwall Airport for a media briefing at 11am Wednesday, January 20, and an airside visit at 12 noon with the opportunity to film the boxes being loaded to the aircraft and interviews. Media must bring photographic identification in the form of a driving licence or passport, there will be strictly no access without this.
A picture taken in Haiti by ShelterBox Response Team member and photographer.Mark Pearson is available at http://www.shelterbox.org/news.php?id=234
Please find below a short story to accompany the picture.
Picture story:
Elda Exeuatug, mother of 20-day-old baby Samanya, has not received any help or relief and her baby is starting to get rashes. She said: 'I have no idea how to cope with this. We have nothing no food, water, shelter we are desperate'. Tens of thousands are displaced living in the capital with no proper shelter, water or food and hospitals are completely over run after the 7.2 earthquake devastated the country in Port Au Prince, Sunday, 17th January 2010
Haiti Operation Centres up and Running
ShelterBox has established three separate operational centers in and around Haiti to help distribute assistance to the estimated one million people left homeless by the devastating 12 January earthquake.
The three-person ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) in Haiti has set up an operations base in the capital Port au Prince with the assistance of local Rotarians to co-ordinate the delivery of aid in the country. They are working with the French aid agency ACTED to determine the areas in most need of assistance and are training personnel to put up tents ahead of their arrival into the devastated country.
The Haiti operation is being supported by logistical hubs set up in Miami and the Dominican Republic capital Santa Domingo. ShelterBoxes have been flown to both cities for onward transportation to Haiti. Overall logistical co-ordination is being managed from ShelterBox HQ in Helston.
ShelterBox Head of Operations John Leach said: 'This is the largest, quickest and most complex deployment in our history. We are now very well organised across four countries to get ShelterBoxes to the people of Haiti quickly.
'We are now set up to channel aid to those in need efficiently and effectively in the days and weeks to come. This is a long term commitment from ShelterBox and we have to sustain our initial push.'
Warehouse volunteers continue to pack ShelterBoxes day and night at the ShelterBox HQ in Helston. More than 3,300 ShelterBoxes have been committed so far, enough to help up to 33,000 people. Given the enormity of the disaster, more boxes are being packed ready to be sent to the Caribbean country.
ShelterBox Founder and CEO Tom Henderson added: 'The need in Haiti is huge. Current estimates are that there are over a million people who have lost their homes.
'We continue to rely on the support of volunteers and donors to allow us to help them in the days and weeks to come.'
Public donations are vital to ShelterBox's continuing work around the world. To make a donation please ring +44-(0)300-0300-500 or go to http://www.shelterbox.org to donate online and get the latest updates on the charity's response to the Haiti earthquake.
Notes to Editors
About ShelterBox
ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity specialising in emergency shelter provision. Humanitarian aid is delivered in iconic green ShelterBoxes. Each one contains a disaster relief tent for up to 10 people, a stove, blankets and other items essential for survival. ShelterBox responds to disaster as quickly as possible with the aim of helping the people who are most in need.
Every box is individually numbered and can be tracked by donors. Each box costs GBP490 - including the cost of all materials, packing, storage, transport worldwide and distribution to the needy. Assuming six months' use, this equates to shelter and warmth for less than 30 pence per person per day.
All aid delivery is undertaken by international volunteer ShelterBox Response Team members who have carried out extensive training with ShelterBox. We are often able to get aid where it is needed faster than any other organisation.
An initiative of Rotarian Tom Henderson OBE, a former Royal Navy search and rescue diver, ShelterBox started in 2000 as a project of the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard, Cornwall. ShelterBox, now the largest Rotary Club project in the world, has responded to disasters including the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma). In 2010, ShelterBox will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary.
SOURCE: Shelter Box
CONTACT: For interviews with our team on the ground in Haiti, please ring+44-(0)1326-569782 or +44-(0)7833-050295. Contacts: Veronica Miller-US,+1-941-907-6036, vmiller@shelterboxusa.org. Angelina Lambourn-UK, PressOfficer, ShelterBox, t. +44-(0)1326-569782, e. AngelinaL@shelterbox.org
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