Virgin Atlantic Pledges Aid To Haiti Following Earthquake
- Jan 15, 2010
Virgin Atlantic is flying much-needed aid along with key medical personnel, aid agency workers and rescue teams to the region in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. The aid and personnel will be flown out on a number of Virgin Atlantic flights to Miami, Orlando and Jamaica over the coming days. From there the aid agencies will arrange for the essential supplies to be transferred to Haiti. The airline has already committed to flying a minimum of 55 tonnes of cargo.
Sir Richard Branson, President of Virgin Atlantic, commented;
“Everyone who has seen the sheer destruction in Haiti over the last few days will have been moved to help in any way they can. Virgin Atlantic and our foundation Virgin Unite, have been liaising with organisations working on the relief effort with the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to help deliver much-needed aid to the region.
“We will fly in as much aid as possible so that the agencies on the ground can respond to the needs of everyone in Haiti whose lives have been devastated by this tragedy.”
Amongst the aid being flown to the region is hundreds of ShelterBoxes which will help to meet the pressing and immediate need of providing shelter for thousands on the island. Each ShelterBox contains a disaster relief tent for up to 10 people, a stove, blankets and other items essential for survival. These boxes will be distributed through international volunteer ShelterBox Response Team members who work with local aid agencies on the ground to deliver emergency shelter to those in greatest need.
ShelterBox Founder Tom Henderson said:
“Our team around the world are doing all they can to ensure aid reaches the people of Haiti as soon as possible. With each day the need grows and we’re doing everything to get help to the thousands of families affected by this tragedy. The response from our volunteers and supporters has once again been sensational. We can’t do this without the public’s compassion and generosity. Virgin Atlantic has really pulled out all the stops for us and we're incredibly grateful for their support.”
Virgin Atlantic is also working with a number of other charities, including Save the Children and Oxfam, to assist them in their efforts to get crucial aid supplies and personnel to the region.
Matthew Wingate, Senior Emergencies Advisor from Save the Children, commented;
“The people of Haiti have experienced a huge crisis. Around three million affected people urgently need relief, otherwise they will face even greater suffering through lack of shelter, food shortages, and disease outbreak in the coming weeks. Save the Children knows that children are the worst affected - and we're especially worried about those young children who are separated from their families with no one to care for them."
You can donate to the rescue efforts at http://www.dec.org.uk/.
