Charity has offered 25 years of aid around the world

SHELTERBOX IN BIG MILESTONE

- By ABIGAIL NICHOLSON

FROM its base in the South West, ShelterBox is working to change lives around the world. The international disaster relief charity specialises in emergency shelter for people who've had to flee their homes because of disaster, conflict, and climate crises.

It all started with one idea - sending essential shelter items in a box to families in crisis - but 25 years on, ShelterBox has evolved. It no longer sends aid in boxes, allowing it to respond faster and support more people in more effective ways.

The charity, which is based in Truro, stores aid in key locations around the world, works with local partners, and tailors its response depending on the situation, climate, and culture. ShelterBox can be responding to up to 15 crises at once.

As well as emergency shelter and essential items like water filters, mosquito nets, and solar lights, a response may also include training or cash assistance to support families to rebuild.

Emergency response manager Dave Raybould said: "We've learned that one-size-fits-all doesn't work. Whether families are displaced by floods, earthquakes, or conflict, we tailor our support to suit the local climate, culture, and needs. Sometimes it's tents, sometimes it's shelter repair kits so people can fix or improve their homes.

"But we also support people with longer-term solutions when they may be displaced repeatedly or for longer. Support needs to be flexible - because every disaster, every community is different."

Longer-term solutions may be building shelters on raised concrete bases to protect people from repeated flooding, or by using timber and corrugated iron. In countries like Chad, ShelterBox is supporting communities with building more robust homes made from mud bricks, and in Somalia, securing land rights, so people aren’t repeatedly evicted from the land they seek refuge on.