"We have set up two camps with 20 tents in each so that the community remains close together." ShelterBox is working with the local disaster relief co-coordinator to identify other nearby villages that need emergency shelter. "We are assessing those villages in need of our help, and will be getting aid to them as quickly as we can."

As of 9 April, 250 ShelterBoxes are on the ground in Italy. ShelterBox has a four-person volunteer SRT there, including Nicola Jones who is on her first deployment. Nicola and fellow SRT volunteer Andrew Biss drove through the night into Italy with the first consignment of aid. They were met by John Diksa who was in the disaster area just 6 hours after the earthquake struck. Australian SRT members are on standby to travel to Italy if required to assist with the deployments.

Each ShelterBox contains up to two 10-person dome tents, thermal blankets, water purification tablets, a multi-fuel stove, tools and other essential equipment. 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 and is supported by Rotary clubs worldwide. ShelterBox, the largest Rotary Club project in the world has raised over $50 million and sheltered over 800,000 people in 58 countries.

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