Emergency disaster relief and shelter provision for more than 3,000 people is en route to El Salvador after devastating floods and mudslides last week.
Torrential rains have washed away homes, destroyed crops and taken out bridges and a large part of the country's roads.
192 people have now died in the disaster which was linked indirectly to Hurricane Ida. More than 14,000 people are said to be living in temporary shelters after being forced to flee their homes.
International disaster relief charity ShelterBox is sending 324 boxes of aid to the province of San Vicente, where massive landslides from the San Vicente volcano have severely damaged a number of settlements.
The boxes containing 10-person tents and other emergency supplies are being transported overland from prepositioned stocks in Panama.
ShelterBox Response Team members John Lacquey (US) and Noel Currie (CA), who are already in San Vicente, will distribute the boxes to communities with the greatest need.
John, from Florida, said: 'We are assessing the damage and seeing where we can put some tents up. There are areas where the landscape has just been completely demolished. One man I was speaking to here was trying to explain what had happened and he just broke down in tears.'
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*ShelterBox Response Team members in El Salvador are available for media interviews. For more information or high resolution images, please contact Angelina Lambourn on 01326 569782 or angelinal@shelterbox.org*
NOTES TO EDITORS
About ShelterBox
ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity which exists to provide humanitarian aid worldwide in the form of shelter, warmth and dignity for people displaced by natural and other disasters.
Each ShelterBox contains a 10-person tent, blankets, water purification and cooking equipment, basic tools, a stove and other essential equipment. Every box is individually numbered and can be tracked by donors. Each box costs £490 – including the cost of all materials, packing, storage, transport worldwide and distribution to the needy. Best value is achieved by working closely with leading suppliers, all items being obtained at below trade price. Assuming six months' use, this equates to shelter and warmth for less than 30 pence per person per day.
All aid delivery is undertaken by international volunteer ShelterBox Response Team members who have carried out extensive training with ShelterBox. The charity is often able to get aid where it is needed faster than any other organisation.
An initiative of Rotarian Tom Henderson, a former Royal Navy search and rescue diver, ShelterBox started in 2000 as a project of the Rotary Club of Helston-Lizard, Cornwall. ShelterBox, now the largest Rotary Club project in the world, has raised over £25 million and responded to over 90 major disasters including the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar (Burma) and has operated in 60 countries.
