ShelterBox, an international disaster relief charity supported by Rotary clubs around the world, is continuing to provide essential provide emergency shelter to families in Gaza who lost their homes in the Israeli offensive against Hamas.
A second ShelterBox Response Teams travelled to Israel on 16 Match to oversee the safe arrival and onward transfer of 396 tents to the Gaza Strip.
The team will be working with international and local partners to ensure the speedy and effective distribution of the tents to people whose homes were destroyed in the recent conflict. ShelterBox has already distributed 200 boxes in the Beit Lahia area of Gaza.
“There is still a great need for shelter in Gaza,” said ShelterBox Operations Manager Pete Sykes. “We now have a tried and tested route to get our aid in and we want to help as many people as we can.”
Mark Pearson, leading the ShelterBox Response Team, reported yesterday (19 March) from Gaza occupied Palestinian territories, on the established need for boxes and the progress to date.
“We have excellent contacts on the ground in Gaza with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED) who have offered to act as consignee for the packed aid currently at ShelterBox HQ.”
Additionally ShelterBox has received support from Egyptian Rotary members who are now assisting with the deployment by helping to open channels through Egypt.
One ACTED staff member working alongside ShelterBox said, “It’s made me so happy to know about ShelterBox’s efforts, believe me this is exactly what hundreds of homeless families are in dire need for, especially when you know that such families live and sleep in the open air next to their destructed houses. Such boxes which include tents, sleeping bags and toolkits will be the first to enter Gaza."
20/03/09
