Sulawesi Earthquake Relief

SULAWESI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF

Three Rotary Clubs in Northampton combined on Saturday 13 October to raise funds to send Shelterboxes to Indonesia following the 7.5 magnitude earthquake and deadly tsunami that left at least 1,400 people dead in Sulawesi Island.   If you are not aware of the Shelterbox Charity it delivers the essentials that families need to begin rebuilding their lives after disaster.

Each disaster is different, and so is every community. Shelterbox doesn’t believe that one size fits all, so it spends time talking to affected families to make sure it provides the right support at the right time.   A typical box is shown right.  For some disaster-hit communities, the family-sized tents are the best solution until they are able to start rebuilding their homes. In other disasters, heavy duty tarpaulins, ropes and nails are needed to create emergency shelter or to patch-up damaged buildings.

Sometimes it even includes corrugated iron to make resilient roofing, or mattresses to make warehouses habitable – whatever it takes to help people recover from disaster. Shelterbox knows that a home is much more than bricks and mortar or tarpaulin and tent pegs. That’s why it also offers other disaster relief items that are essential for survival, and can help to turn a shelter into a home. 

The three local Clubs were able to show the contents of a typical Shelterbox on Saturday and are grateful to the members of the public who contributed to helping the people of Sulawesi recover from the recent disaster.  On the left Rtns Alan Jukes and Jackie Brame and right, Aileen Stephens, ready with their buckets.