ShelterBox

Disaster Relief Charity Worldwide

ShelterBox was set up in the year 2000 by an ex Royal Navy search and rescue diver. The concept was simple – to provide fast response to disasters by shipping in pre-packed plastic crates that contained enough equipment to provide shelter, warmth, cooking and water purification to a family or group of up to 10 people per box. http://www.shelterbox.org will show you the details.

The first consignment was 143 plastic boxes sent to India in 2001. The project grew steadily – in 2005 the charity shipped out 22,000 boxes.

Much of their work is in less developed countries but ShelterBox also helped in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and is now shipping boxes to Japan. They work on every inhabited continent, responding to earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, volcanoes and wars.

The crates are adapted to the requirements of the disaster and are designed for maximum logistical efficiency. There are now 18 international ShelterBox affiliates, including the USA, Canada, Australia, Brazil, France and Germany.

In the current emergency in Japan there are over 200,000 people homeless. ShelterBox was on the ground within 24 hours of the earthquake arranging support, in cooperation with the other major aid agencies.

Simple idea. Very effective. Very good.