TORONTO—Some 40 people in regions devastated by the Sichuan earthquake and Burmese cyclone will receive emergency shelter thanks to the work of the Toronto East Rotary Club and an inspiring effort called Shelterbox.
Shelterboxes are large, rugged rubbermaid-like tubs which the Rotary program sends to devastated regions in the days immediately following natural disasters or human-caused calamity.
At its Disaster Relief Fundraiser on Thursday, the Rotary Club raised around $5,000, enough to ship four shelterboxes.
A shelterbox contains 10 sleeping bags, a massive (sometimes three-roomed) tent, tools, equipment, cooking supplies — sufficient to provide up to 10 people with reasonably comfortable emergency shelter.
Shelterbox was the only aid program allowed into Burma within days of the cyclone that devastated the country's rice-production region, said Tanya Perry, the regional ambassador for the program.
Reports indicate that hundreds of thousands are still in desperate need in Burma, officially known as Myanmar.
"Many parents lost children, many children lost parents," said Zaw Kyaw, chair of the Burma Cyclone Relief Committee's Toronto chapter.
Kyaw thanked the Rotarians for their efforts and said thousands of shelterboxes would be delivered to Burma.
"We are all global citizens, we have a responsibility to help each other," he said.
Margaret Wong, a local Chinese resident who came from Sichuan, China, also spoke at the event. Wong said she was hit hard by the news of the earthquake that killed thousands in her home province.
"It was a shock at that time…I was in tears for the first week."
Wong said she was particularly upset by the number of children who died in the schools which were among the buildings most devastated by the quake.
Reports indicated the buildings may have been built to substandard codes due to rampant government corruption in China.
The event, sponsored by Andrew Lang, the Liberal challenger to NDP leader Jack Layton's Toronto-Danforth riding, included a dinner, raffle and a private auction.
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