Wednesday 09 May 2012
Peru's First Lady thanks ShelterBox for support
Local workers in flood-hit Indiana, Peru, setting up tents for families in need, May 2012.The First Lady of Peru has thanked ShelterBox for supporting the Peruvian people at one of their greatest times of need, following extensive floods and widespread landslides across the country.
Also known as Nadine Heredia, she arranged for a Peruvian Air Force cargo plane to transport ShelterBox aid from Lima to Iquitos in the north. A ShelterBox Response Team (SRT) is currently working in this area to assist those who have lost their homes in the floods caused by the Amazon River overflowing. She met with the team in the flood-hit town of Indiana.
SRT volunteers Chris Donald (UK) and Derek Locke (US) along with local Rotarians had been giving demonstrations of the kit and the set up of the tent to several local workers hired by the Mayor of Indiana.
Peru's First Lady Nadine Heredia with SRT volunteer Derek Locke (US) and local Rotarians, May 2012.
'We had distributed a few ShelterBoxes to families before the First Lady arrived to meet us,' said Derek. 'She was impressed with the ShelterBox tents and the work that we had done not only here but also by SRTs on the other deployment in central Peru, where 409 boxes have been delivered to families made homeless by landslides in the Apurimac Region. She thanked us for ShelterBox's support and saw the difference the boxes had made to the displaced families.'
One family had been living under a plastic sheet after their house had been completely submerged by the swollen Amazon River. The family can now live in comfort with the gift of a ShelterBox.
'Being my first deployment, this was the first family I had witnessed to be housed,' said Derek. 'It gave me great pride that we were able to help these people and bring them shelter.'
Flooded Iquitos, the northern Peru area in the Amazon where ShelterBox is currently distributing emergency shelter and other life-saving supplies to displaced familes.
More ShelterBoxes have been distributed in Santa Isabel, where families who have lost everything had been living in cramped conditions in a school. The ShelterBox Solution enabled them to live temporarily in privacy and dignity.
