DG Sandy joins RIBI President, David Fowler in asking Rotarians to help rebuild the lives of millions shattered by the Haitian earthquake.

22nd January. As Rotarians and Inner Wheelers will know from the harrowing TV coverage, the people of Haiti, the poorest nation in the western hemisphere are suffering unbelievable torment with remarkably good grace and stoic resilience. With poor, broken infrastructure, no residual Government as such, international aid is now reaching people in the streets of Port-au-Prince. Supplies are also being air dropped to surrounding areas. Camps are now being established. The priority remains for clean water, shelter, food and medical supplies: Much is available but too little is still not getting through, it is claimed.

As we close this evolving article first posted last Saturday, we hear cheering news tonight that as aid begins to flow, ShelterBox is not only providing shelter for post-operative care patients it is today setting up 4 initial tent villages to 'house' between 500 and 1,000 people at each. Very soon shelter for another 70,000 people will be in place.  For a local (Rotarian) assessment of current and future needs please view the minutes of a recent meeting in D7020. You can view the special CNN video report on ShelterBox deployments issued 29th Jan.

With continuing aftershocks the scale of the tragedy could well approach that of the Tsunami of 2005, albeit over a much smaller area. On Saturday last, 45,000 people were estimated to have died: Now approaching 75,000 the death toll is expected to rise above 230,000. Up to two million people are homeless. A Red Cross spokesman said ... "This is the largest mobilisation of need in our one-hundred and fifty year history ". Shelter Box advise that doctors fear the number of people needing amputations could spiral into the thousands. See the postscript below for links to external information sources.

Many Clubs will be collecting for Haiti this weekend (23rd Jan) and other fund-raising events are in the pipeline. In addition to making personal donations I am aware that just 19 of our 52 Clubs have already raised or pledged some £25,000. At least two-thirds of which has been allocated to ShelterBox. If the average holds up, Clubs in RIBI will raise in excess of £2.5m in this funding round. 

The Box organisations are working at full stretch and seek your continuing support: ShelterBox pledges to ship 3,300 boxes by the end of this week, with more to follow. The first batch of 400 arrrived on Tuesday January 19th - see video, some of which were used to build an emergency field hospital at the airport. Others are being used at hospitals in the capital for post-operative support. A further 600 was due Thursday. 200 Water-Survival boxes were collected on Tuesday for shipment to Haiti. A futher 150 wrere due to be shipped on Thursday. Aquabox advised that the first shipment of 200 of their planned 1,000 boxes, including 40 Aqua30's, were due to be collected on Wednesday.   

Rotarians in the thirteen Haitian Clubs, working under the auspices of PDG Richard McCombe in D7020 are coordinating global Rotarian support. Rotarian Dr. Claude Suréna, president of the Haitian Medical Association, is helping to lead aid efforts in Haiti for ShelterBox.

How can we help today?

With Governments and relief agencies, working under the UN disaster relief coordination programme mobilized to contain order and trying to provide immediate assistance to Haiti, the most effective way for individual Rotarians and Clubs to assist is to donate funds. Individuals can donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee: It has received £42m as of today (Friday).

There are two, possibly three routes of support Clubs may wish to pursue: Firsts to provide immediate support to the Box organizations including ShelterBox, Water Survival Boxes and AquaBox.

The second is to send contributions to the central RIBI Donations Trust to develop  longer term projects of physical and mental reconstruction: Cheques and or transfers should be made payable to the RIBI Donations Trust. Please send cheques to RIBI HQ at Alcester. UK bank transfers can be sent to: Lloyds TSB  Sort code: 30-98-26,  Account number: 01531124

Please ensure cheques and/or transfers clearly indicate they are in respect of the Haiti Earthquake Appeal as the Trust account receives funds for a range of activities.

Any individual who wishes to make a donation and gift aid it can obtain a form from this RIBI link.

A third possible option is for Clubs to allocate funds now but wait until longer term needs become clearer and then see whether it, working with other Clubs and D7020 might produce a project for hope and reconstruction, possibly supported by matching grants. Stevenage Grange has made such a decision. It agreed to spend £2,000 now to buy a further four ShelterBoxes this year, but set aside £2,500 from its Charity Reserve for longer term deployment. Other Clubs in D1260 thinking along similar lines may wish to contact the President of Stevenage Grange  This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

Want to keep up to speed?

Please do keep an eye on the following Rotary sites for the latest position: Latest news from RI and RIBI; For information on the ground – ShelterBox ; For an extermal  perspective see PRIP Devlyn’s Newsletter. You can also view latest news from local coordinating Rotarians by viewing their D7020 website 

Postscript  

The body of this article was updated as information and knowledge become available. Other material can be found from the links below:

18th January - Letter from RIP John Kenny to Rotarians provided by DG Sandy

19th January - First ShelterBoxes arrive at  Port-au-Prince

19th January - RIBI web site updated to reflect 'Box' activity

19th January - A view from Sky (video)

20th January - ShelterBox tents being used by hospitals in Port au Prince.

21st January - Life springs back CNN Haiti news and resources roundup

21st January - Haiti Collections poster amendable in Word produced

22nd January - Rotarians committed to long haul - RIBI website

22nd January - Camps set up as aid begins to flow Shelterbox

22nd January - Rotary International roundup

22nd January - How to erect a ShelterBox tent - demonstration video

Thanks to all for their actions and magnificent support. Stephen Sypula, International Projects Team Chairman 

This article first publish on 16th January, updates the earlier email advice sent to all District 1260 International Chairs, and fellow DIPT Chairs in RIBI on the 14th/15th Jan. General progress updates concluded at 23.00hrs on Friday 22nd: We are however updating the News link to ShelterBox to catch up on their updating feedback.

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