Alice Jefferson | Stories From The Field

New Equipment Trialled In The Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea

Posted on June 23, 2015 by MikeGreenslade

ShelterBox response team members Alice Jefferson and Sam Hewett (both from the UK) with recipients of ShelterBox aid in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

ShelterBox has been working with the Korean Committee for the Promotion of International Trade (KOMT) to provide shelter for families whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by a succession of heavy storms and a harsh winter.

Many of the homes affected in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) will take a long time to repair, so ShelterBox has provided a selection of items that will help people to keep warm throughout the extreme temperatures experienced during the winter, which can be as low as -25°C.

The equipment includes Flex 3 tents, a new addition to ShelterBox’s range of aid, which is a quilted, three layer tent designed so that a stove can be safely placed and used inside. We have also provided the stoves, which can not only be used for cooking, but to heat the tent too.

The 400 families that we are helping across four provinces have also received winterisation kits and boxes full of household supplies.

The winterisation kits include partition walls that help keep heat in, along with insulated sleeping mats that can be stuffed with materials such as straw to create warm mattresses. The boxes, which are a smaller version of ShelterBox’s iconic green boxes contain a selection of items to help people return to everyday routines, such as cooking sets and water containers, as well as thermal lined blankets for extra warmth.

Shane Revill, ShelterBox Supply Chain Manager, said: ‘Including the Flex 3 tents, winterisation kits and accompanying stoves in our itinerary of aid means that we are better prepared to help people who have been displaced from their homes in very cold climates. They are a great solution for a country like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, where winters are long and temperatures stay below freezing for many months of the year.’

A Korean woman prepares a hot meal on a wood-burning stove in her Flexi 3 tent

A stove can be safely placed in the Flex 3 tent, allowing people to stay warm and cook in comfort.

A ShelterBox response team made up of Alice Jefferson and Sam Hewett (both from the UK) recently travelled to the DPRK to help distribute the equipment and meet some of the people who have already benefitted from ShelterBox tents and supplies.

Alice said: ‘It was staggering to see how much damage had been caused to homes by a series of storms, making it incredibly difficult for people to start to make any repairs.

‘Now that families have somewhere warm to stay, they are prepared for the cold winter ahead and can focus on the task of rebuilding their homes.’

They met Ms. Sin Bok Sum from Rakrang District whose house was rendered uninhabitable by the recent storms. After receiving aid from ShelterBox, they said: ‘I have used the tent for several days now and it provides us with warm conditions while using the wood-stove to help us cook. My relatives and colleagues come to my tent as often as they can, saying that the tent is a really good house for our affected people.’

This gallery of images shows some of the damage caused to homes and buildings in the DPRK, as well as people who are now able to shelter from the cold thanks to ShelterBox.

View a great slideshow of the deployment here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shelterboxuk/sets/72157652591567393

ShelterBox has responded to the need for shelter in the DPRK, one of the world’s most insular nations several times before, establishing good working links within the country. In 2013, ShelterBox provided aid to people who had been hit by Typhoon Bolaven, which caused downpours to sweep across east and west coastal areas of the country, leaving around 51,600 hectares of land flooded, buried or washed away and more than 26,000 people displaced.

Working Together But Miles Apart – ShelterBox In The Philippines

Posted on November 27, 2013 by MikeGreenslade

Map showing the five different areas of concentration for ShelterBox’s operational response so far.

With Response Team members operating across five different islands, ShelterBox’s operational response to Typhoon Haiyan is proving to be one of the most complex and large scale of recent years.

Typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc across the coastal islands of the Philippines causing up to 95% damage in some towns and cities. This left communities reeling but also caused widespread infrastructure and communications damage heavily hampering the ability of governments, aid agencies and NGOs to respond swiftly.

Multiple teams, multiple locations

ShelterBox’s in country Operations Coordinator for this response is Alice Jefferson (UK) who has the task of overseeing the delivery of aid to the families in most need:

‘We currently have five separate areas within the Philippines from where we are moving either vitally needed ShelterBox aid, our Response Teams or both.’

Alice and her teammates are operating from outside Cebu City on Cebu Island where they are overseeing operations and acting as a key link in the logistics chain as aid passes through Cebu and onwards to Bantayan Islands to the north and Leyte Island in the east.

ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) are also operating on the Island of Bohol where earlier in the year a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck, damaging buildings and infrastructure and claiming lives across the region. ShelterBox responded to the earthquake, sending a Response Team to the affected area. The team were distributing aid on Bohol Island when Typhoon Haiyan struck and have been continuing distribution of ShelterBox tents since. Having completed the current distribution on Bohol Island the team is now travelling to join the team on Cebu.

ShelterBox tents warehoused ahead of distirbution by the Response Team

On the remote island of Bantayan the SRTs have been distributing much needed aid to families who have lost their homes since Typhoon Haiyan hit. The island has a population of 30,000 people and some 27,000 are now feared to be without homes.

Logistical challenges

Meanwhile another SRT has been operating in Manilla to help oversee the movement of aid through to Cebu island. The logistics of getting aid cleared through airports and harbours is, in itself, a challenge due to the damaged infrastructure and the surge of overseas freight arriving in the Philippines. Experience gained from years of responding to disasters such as the earthquake that struck Haiti in 2010 and the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011 has allowed the ShelterBox Operations team to ‘drip-feed’ a constant supply of aid into the Philippines through a variety of different entrance points. This has in turn enabled the Response Teams on the ground in the Philippines to have a continual but manageable flow of aid to distribute amongst the Typhoon affected communities.

A SRT are now beginning assessment and possible distribution of further aid on Leyte Island. ShelterBox aid will continue to arrive in coming weeks and Response Teams on the ground will continue to explore new ways of getting vitally needed shelter and aid to families who have lost everything as a result of Typhoon Haiyan.

Families receive a ShelterBox tent in the Philippines

If you would like to support our ongoing efforts please donate to the ShelterBox Australia Typhoon Haiyan Emergency Appeal.

Thank you.

ShelterBox Quick to Monitor China Earthquake

Posted on July 26, 2013 by MikeGreenslade

ShelterBox responded to the earthquake that hit China’s Qinghai Province in April 2010, sending 100 ShelterBoxes.

ShelterBox was quick to respond as alerts came through from various sources on 22 July about two earthquakes hitting China’s western Gansu province, which injured hundreds of people and damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings causing 225,000 people to be relocated.

The first quake measured 5.9 in magnitude, which was followed by hundreds of aftershocks, including a particularly strong one at 5.6 in magnitude creating the second big tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

‘Soon after we received automated alerts highlighting the seismic activity, one of our ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) members who is currently living in China, Rachel Harvey (UK), contacted us with initial information from the region,’ said ShelterBox Operations Coordinator Alice Jefferson. ‘This enabled us to receive accurate and timely data, crucial to our decision of whether to send an assessment SRT.’

Through Rachel’s reports, as well as reading media reports and other humanitarian organisation’s updates, the ShelterBox Operations department was able to monitor the situation rapidly and effectively.

‘Emergency-response plan’

‘Through the information we were getting, it became apparent fairly early on after the disaster that the China Earthquake Administration had started an emergency-response plan,’ continued Alice. ‘Officials from the civil affairs, transportation and earthquake departments were visiting local towns to assess the damage and trained rescue teams with dogs were already on the scene. Hundreds of troops were also reported to have been deployed to assist as well as the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC).

‘The report published by RCSC later that day, with the support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), determined that external assistance was not required. We are therefore continuing to monitor the disaster but are not sending an SRT to carry out needs assessments.’

Work around the clock

The ShelterBox Operations Team work around the clock continuously monitoring disasters enabling the charity to be in a position to respond rapidly and efficiently when disaster strikes.

ShelterBox Helps Typhoon Survivors in Philippines

Posted on January 25, 2013 by MikeGreenslade

Jose and Protacia Ongcoy, a married couple in their late seventies who lost everything to Typhoon Bopha at the beginning of December in front of their new shelter, Philippines, January 2013.

Terrified for her children as the heavy rains and violent winds thrashed down on her home in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, 32-year-old Marizmer Marquez hunted for a safe place to hide her baby and second youngest child as she feared her home collapsing. Knowing that Typhoon Bopha had cut the power hours before, Marizmer decided to hide baby Rodolfo in the fridge and Injeto in the washing machine to give them the best protection against the destructive storm. She took cover in the house with her husband Rodolfo and eldest child and waited until it passed.

‘Once the weather calmed, they saw that their house had been severely damaged to the point that it’s still unlivable but they told me at least they were safe, unharmed and all together,’ said ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) member Alice Jefferson (UK).

The family had been living in a makeshift structure made out of debris, like hundreds of thousands of other people, when a SRT found them in Compostela Valley on 26 December, almost three weeks after Bopha struck.

‘Their home was stronger than the majority of other homes in eastern Mindanao as it was made out of concrete but they do not have the money at the moment to start rebuilding it,’ continued Alice.

Emergency Shelter ‘Biggest Need’ in Philippines

Posted on January 4, 2013 by MikeGreenslade

The first ShelterBox tent set up on 24 December 2012 in Compostela Valley at the Municipality of Monkayo in Township Banlag. The family will be able to rebuild their home whilst living in comfort and shelter.

‘The biggest needs right now are emergency shelter… almost all the houses are destroyed,’ said David Carden, head of United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Philippines.

Almost a month has passed since Typhoon Bopha made landfall in eastern Mindanao and the ever-increasing number of displaced people is currently around one million.

ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) have been on the ground distributing emergency shelter and other lifesaving supplies to families in need in the most affected areas including Compostela Valley.

‘There are thousands and thousands of people with nothing,’ said ShelterBox’s Operations Philippines In-Country Coordinator Alice Jefferson. ‘We have been working with the Government of Compostela Valley to find those families most in need. What’s more difficult though is finding suitable land to set the tents up on. It’s very hilly here, it’s constantly raining and flooding, and as there is so much debris, there’s little space.

ShelterBox Response to Syrian Crisis on Hold

Posted on August 21, 2012 by MikeGreenslade

One of many Syrian refugee families in the Bekaa Valley, August 2012.

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.

They had also been planning potential distributions to Syrian refugees with several international non-governmental organisations (INGOS), including Handicap International, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR); and a consortium of eight local NGOs operating in the central Bekaa Valley. The Response Team had submitted a proposal to Lebanon’s Council of Ministers through an influential contact on Wednesday afternoon.

Later that same afternoon the armed wing of the Muqdad clan made good on its promise to retaliate to the Free Syrian Army’s (FSA) kidnapping of their fellow clansman, Hassan Muqdad, some time earlier.

Details are unclear but reports state that around 30 people were seized in the northern parts of the Bekaa Valley and in southern Beirut.