ShelterBox Nepal Response

ShelterBox's first tents in Kathmandu have been supplied to four hospitals which have been devastated, forcing medical staff to treat their patients outside with dwindling supplies; thus creating safe, covered spaces where patients can be treated in privacy. They will be used for carrying out minor operations, changing dressings and as mobile health clinics too.

ShelterBox ask for support to enable them to make sure that no one is left without shelter after the terrible disaster. The Club actively supports ShelterBox and have recently donated funds for another 4 boxes.

The quake damaged an estimated 600,000 homes in the country, leaving almost three million people with nowhere to go; frequent aftershocks mean that even surviving buildings could collapse at any minute, forcing people to sleep out in the open. Families have had to create temporary shelters made from whatever can be salvaged from the rubble, but these flimsy shelters aren't enough to protect people from the harsh weather bearing down on Nepal.

The need for shelter has become even more desperate as temperatures are dropping to zero in many parts of Nepal, thunderstorms and heavy downpours will bring the threat of flooding and water-borne diseases. In addition, the impact of the earthquake could have reached as far as Nepal's glacial lakes, destabilising them and increasing the risk of further flooding and landslides.

ShelterBox is currently sending shelter kits to Nepal, which will help people to clear rubble, mend structures and make sturdy temporary shelters that can be adapted and moved when needed.