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ShelterBox Shipments to Pakistan

ShelterBox has set up a camp for up to 2,500 people who have fled the fighting between the army and militants in northern Pakistan.

Tarakai Camp has been set up in Swabi district in the North West Frontier Province. “This is an area where hundreds of thousands of people have fled to escape the bitter fighting,” says ShelterBox Response Team leader Mark Pearson. “There is a massive need for our help here. Most people are living in very overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.”

ShelterBox has provided 250 heavy duty 10-person tents and special family kits of essential equipment to the camp. Oxfam UK has provided water and sanitation while the land has been provided by the local Liaquat Tarakai Welfare Trust.

ShelterBox is also working with the National Rural Support Agency and local Rotarians. The size of the camp will double in the next two weeks. An additional 250 ten-person tents have now arrived in Islamabad and will be delivered to Swabi shortly.

“ShelterBox tents are perfect for the harsh conditions here,” adds Mark. “They can withstand the soaring midday heat and the sandstorms.” Once the new tents are set up the camp will house up to 5,000 people.

The United Nations estimates that a total of 2.4 million have been displaced by the fighting, 80 percent of whom have been forced from their homes in the last five weeks.

ShelterBox has provided more than 1,000 ten-person tents to Pakistan since the end of May.

“The scale of the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan is huge,” says Lasse Petersen, ShelterBox General Manager. “We are monitoring the situation carefully and liaising with Mark on the ground with a view to getting help to those most in need.”

In the current Rotary year (July 2008 to June 2009), Rotary eClub One has committed US$25,000.00 in contributions to ShelterBox.