Welcome our monthly eNewsletter for Shelterbox Australia.
August has been a busy month for ShelterBox, with Tropical storms hitting The Philippines and Haiti; refugee crises in The Lebanon and Mali and heavy flooding in Niger. ShelterBox Operations have been monitoring several other potential disasters with Response Teams on standby to react immediately if required.
With Spring finally upon us, now is a great time to organise a fundraiser. Keep an eye on the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shelterbox.australia to see up and coming events and remember to send me pics from your fundraiser and share ShelterBox news with your friends
Remembering all those around the world who have lost homes and livelihood to disaster, this month’s quote comes from Lord Byron, “Adversity is the first path to truth”
Thanks for your support
Mike
Mike Greenslade SRT/Communications Officer
Deployments
 NIGER – Flooding
Niger is experiencing it’s worst floods for 100 years. A ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) is in NIger working with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to assess shelter needs. The UN reported that the Dosso region has been worst affected, with over 10,000 homes damaged by floodwaters. Read more here: NIGER
 HAITI – Tropical Storm Isaac
A ShelterBox Response Team arrived in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on Monday 27th August to begin making needs assessments for emergency shelter. Communications have been down due to the storm. ShelterBox aid arrived at Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on 24 August. Read more here: HAITI
 PHILIPPINES – Flooding
In early August The Philippines capital, Manila and the surrounding area experienced its worst floods since 2009, due to unusually heavy monsoon rainfall triggered by Tropical Storm Haikui. Australian SRT, Peter Pearce (who took this photo of twin babies in one of our tents) and Kiwi SRT, Ross MacKenzie joined Filippino SRTs Sonny Ongkiko and Abner Tayco in Manila to assess needs and distribute aid. The team worked with The Philippines Navy, Emergency Medical Services, local Rotary Clubs and volunteers from the Asian College of Science and Technology to get pre-positioned ShelterBoxes to those in need. 448 boxes have been distributed to date. Read more here: PHILIPPINES
 LEBANON – Conflict
ShelterBox’s response to the crisis in Syria has been postponed following a spate of violence and kidnappings in Lebanon’s capital Beirut that began on 16 August.
ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members Alice Jefferson (UK) and Phil Duloy (UK and USA) had been working with ministers in the Lebanese government to facilitate the importation of ShelterBoxes.
 NIGER/MALI – Food Insecurity/Conflict
ShelterBox has sent 497 disaster relief tents to bring shelter to 497 families fleeing from Mali, a country in West Africa’s Sahel region suffering from food insecurity, conflict and political instability that has forced countless civilians to flee their homes. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is calling Mali’s situation a ‘complex emergency,’ which has displaced over 435,000 people. Read more here: MALI
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Fundraising
 RC of Kent Town – Bolly Good NIghtThe Rotary Club of Kent Town and the Adelaide Indian Cultural Society (AISC) have formed a partnership to raise money for ShelterBox. Celebrating one year free of Polio in India and eleven years since the first ever Shelter Box deployment, 143 boxes that went into India, the two organisations will pool resources and hold a fundraising dinner on 6th October that will feature classical Indian & Bollywood dancing and delicious Indian cuisine. For more info contact Greg Love on secretaryrckt@gmail.com
 From Letterboxes To ShelterBoxes |
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Have you held a successful fundraising event or are you planning one? Please send me the details for inclusion in the newsletter and promotion on the Blog at:
mike.greenslade@shelterbox.org.au
Stories From The Field 