The Rotary Clubs of Northwich and Northwich Vale Royal would like to thank the people of Northwich and the surrounding area for their amazing generosity following the recent earthquake in Haiti the two Rotary Clubs decided to quickly marshal their resources and hold an impromptu street collection to fund Rotary Shelterboxes which could be sent to Haiti to help ease the suffering the Haitian people are enduring. 

At 21.53.10 GMT on Tuesday, January 12, a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean island of Haiti. The earthquake, described as the worst to hit Haiti in centuries, was centred 10 miles to the south west of the island’s capital, Port au Prince. The level of destruction caused by the quake was on an unprecedented scale with the UN describing it as the worst disaster it had ever dealt with. It is feared the death toll could rise above 200,000 with more than a million people made homeless. The need in Haiti is greater than it is has ever been before and delivering emergency disaster relief to the thousands in need has proved to be one of the biggest challenges ShelterBox has ever faced. 

The first ShelterBoxes arrived in Haiti five days after the earthquake struck and were immediately put to use as emergency field hospitals. ShelterBox tents were used to provide secure shelter for hundreds of patients recovering from amputations. Twelve of these tents were set up outside Bernard Mews Hospital in Port au Prince. Response Team member Mark Pearson who helped set up the tents said: ‘There was a little boy called Carlos. He’s four years old and had his right leg amputated. I was sitting there really shell shocked and I gave him a little colouring book and some crayons. He smiled - it was the first time he’d been given something since losing his leg.’ Thanks to the Response Team’s work, Carlos and hundreds of others have been able to recover in a secure shelter. 

ShelterBox camps have been set up in and around Port au Prince. In Delmas, a suburb of Port au Prince, 100 tents were set up to provide emergency shelter for families with newborn babies and pregnant women. One of the recipients was Ulrique Idal who had given birth to her son Edwige two days earlier. 

 In order to distribute aid most effectively, ShelterBox has been working closely with the French aid agency ACTED, the IOM (International Organisation for Migration), the French Red Cross, the Dutch Marines, the Haitian government and local Rotarians.

A 1,000-tent urban camp has been set up, in conjunction with ACTED and the IOM. Urban camps providing shelter for up to 10,000 people are of huge benefit to the people in Port au Prince as they do not have to move to locations outside of the city and can therefore continue with their daily lives.

Delivering ShelterBoxes into Port au Prince has been an incredibly difficult operation. To coordinate the flow of aid into the country, ShelterBox set up operational hubs, manned by Response Team members, in Miami, USA and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Virgin Atlantic flew 1,500 ShelterBoxes to Miami and the ShelterBox Logistics Team operating out of Miami arranged delivery into Port au Prince. A second Logistics Team, working out of Santo Domingo, was responsible for transporting the 700 ShelterBoxes and 100 ShelterBox tents into Haiti which arrived in Santa Domingo on a chartered plane from Newquay Cornwall Airport. ShelterBox Head of Operations, John Leach, said: ‘Our forward logistics teams have been the unsung heroes of the whole operation. Without their efforts, our large shipments of aid would’ve taken much longer to reach the people of Haiti.

This couldn’t have happened without the dedication of our warehouse and logistics team at HQ and without the unwavering commitment of our volunteers.’ ShelterBox Founder and CEO, Tom Henderson OBE, added: ‘None of this would have been possible without the fantastic fundraising efforts from ShelterBox supporters around the world. The need is huge but the response is matching it. By the sheer grit and determination of our staff, volunteers and donors, we’ve been able to respond in record time, preparing more ShelterBoxes in two weeks than we’ve ever done before. We’re in this for the long haul and I know our supporters will keep on going, keep on fundraising and keep onhelping us make a difference. 

We are still accepting donations which can be made through the secure drop box  located at the Rotary Shop in the Weaver Square Shopping Centre, Northwich, via e-mail at rcnvr@btinternet.com or by calling 01606 871670.

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