Santa Barbara — ShelterBox is sending a response team first to Bangkok, Thailand, to begin its assessment of what to deploy after the powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand, causing widespread destruction. ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray says it’s anticipated that the humanitarian needs will be high, especially for durable, moveable tents.
“ShelterBox is accustomed to responding to catastrophic earthquakes from Haiti, Turkey to most recently Morocco,” said Murray. “In areas with strong aftershocks, our tents tend to be very desirable. We saw this most recently in Morocco when, after the earthquake, families were afraid to sleep in damaged buildings due to significant aftershocks. Our emergency shelter, tents, cookware sets, and other aid items were life-saving to families who lost everything to the quake there.”
Murray saw earthquake damage firsthand during her deployment to Morocco.
From the scale of the earthquake and how shallow it was, ShelterBox is expecting the number of people with damaged or destroyed homes to run into the tens of thousands in Myanmar and Thailand. A rare request has been made for international humanitarian aid by Myanmar’s authorities, who have declared a state of emergency across six regions. Thai authorities have declared a state of emergency for Bangkok, where earthquakes are rare, and buildings aren’t built to withstand such shocks. Pre-existing issues like conflict in places like Myanmar can make responding to an earthquake much more challenging. In Myanmar, nearly 20 million people – more than a third of the population – are estimated to need humanitarian assistance. This is mostly women and children.
ShelterBox has responded in Myanmar and the region before. In 2008, ShelterBox supported people affected by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. In 2013, ShelterBox aided people in Myanmar displaced by conflict. In 2017, ShelterBox helped people in Bangladesh, driven out of Myanmar by violence.
ShelterBox has helped nearly three million people worldwide since its founding, is rated 100% on Charity Navigator has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times for its work in the world’s worst disaster zones.
New information on Myanmar is arriving by the minute, and Kerri Murray is available for interviews.
Media contact: Paul Vercammen [email protected] cell 323 646 4315