Power for Ukraine

Few people would willingly approach a war zone and if our DART volunteers; Peter and Suzie, were not quite in the front line, they were certainly closer than most of us would ever care to be. We are grateful for their commitment and humanity and are pleased that they are safely home having completed the first phase of Disaster Aid UK & Ireland’s deployment to Romania to help the people of Ukraine.
The initial objective was to help refugees fleeing Ukraine into Romania and the team arrived in Suceava, Romania on 23 March 2022 and began their assessment.

A military adage suggests that no plan survives first contact with the enemy and our deployment was similar. They found that refugees arriving in Romania were well catered for and being quickly and efficiently processed and moved on within 24/48 hours. Accordingly, when it appeared that our resources could be better used elsewhere, they sought and were granted permission to amend the objectives of the deployment. A great example of the flexibility and benefits brought by our DARTs.

The needs of the Internally Displaced People who cannot leave Ukraine are huge.
Unsurprisingly, the power supply is inconsistent. Bad enough domestically, but in a medical setting potentially crucial. A new plan was formed to work with Romanian and Ukrainian Rotarians to provide back-up generators which are extremely scarce in Ukraine. A supply chain has been established, sourcing suitable generators in Romania to be delivered to Siret, on the Ukraine border, before being distributed to specific locations in Ukraine.

The first unit has been allocated to a hospital in Dnipro, which receives casualties from Mariupol. Logistics within Ukraine are difficult but with the support and efforts of Rotarians within Ukraine and Romania the supply chain is complete. Ongoing care and continued use of the generators will be over-seen by local Rotarians.

Phase 2 will continue from the UK, utilising the verified supply chain and established contacts who will identify locations based on need and urgency.

We are grateful for your continued support and generosity. Our Ukraine Refugee Appeal is still open, donations are still desperately needed and will go towards giving the people of Ukraine ‘a hand up, not a handout’ as we look for additional ways we can help. More information to come on this soon.

Our Ukraine Refuge Appeal is still open – donations are still needed and very welcome.

Welcome to Disaster Aid UK & Ireland

Disaster Aid UK & Ireland is one of the founding partners of Disaster Aid International (DAI). DAI is an international organisation, involving Rotary Clubs around the world, with the mission to:

Respond to disasters with the supply of humanitarian aid to the affected communities and/or individuals.
Work in partnership on humanitarian projects funded by other organisations including Rotary clubs and Rotary districts.

In contrast to many other disaster-response groups, our aim is also to provide an infrastructure that allows affected communities to regain their normal lives.

If your organisation, club or group would like a speaker for your meetings, we would be very happy speak about Disaster Aid UK & Ireland, and answer any questions they might have.

Please contact chairman Pam Joyce giving details of the time and date of the meeting.

Contact Pam

Recent Project Supplying Water Filters to India

We have had a long established and very successful relationship with the Rotary Club of Changanacherry in Kerala, India and in particular with Past District Governor Scaria Jose Katoor. This relationship has borne fruit on a number of occasions when we have provided Sawyer water filters to be distributed. The importance of building such relationships is emphasised when, due to Covid-19, we have been unable to deploy our DARTs as we did on our deployment to Kerala in 2019. Having such a trusted partner on the ground gives us the reassurance that, in the absence of DARTs, we can be totally sure that our aid, so generously given by donors, is deployed effectively, efficiently and with transparency to the people who need it most.

In November 2021 we learned that the Koottickal region of Kerala had suffered from yet more flooding and landslides and we arranged for 100 Sawyer water filters to be distributed by RC Changanacherry. The project was inaugurated in the presence of a member of Kerala State Legislative Assembly, Snr Advocate Job Michael and the filters will be transported to Koottickal for distribution. The inauguration ceremony included the lighting of special lamps which is believed to be auspicious.

We hope in the near future to be able to start deploying DARTs again but in the meantime, we are grateful to RC Changanacherry for assisting us once more in helping the people of Kerala.

View video for the role of DARTS

Deployments

With the advent of Covid-19, our usual method for deployments has been severely disrupted, in that we have been unable to utilise our fully trained Disaster Aid Response Team volunteers (DARTS). However, in the ordinary course of events and hopefully in the near future we would send DARTS to the affected country in order to:

Conduct an assessment of the disaster and local needs;
Coordinate with relevant governments, aid agencies and the affected communities to ensure that aid is deployed where most effective;
Manage the effective distribution of equipment, tents etc. to the sites of deployment;
Train members of the local community so that they can be involved in the distribution and deployment of the equipment, tents etc.;
Work to ensure that deployments are designed to support longer term sustainability;
Monitor and evaluate our deployments to ensure that both the products we are deploying as well as the means of distribution are relevant, effective and reach out to the most vulnerable.

MORE INFORMATION

How you can help - Donate

We have found that people can be incredibly generous once a disaster has struck. In such cases, we usually create a special fund raising campaign and funds raised by this campaign will be used for the specific disaster concerned. However, a real challenge for all disaster aid organisations, ourselves included, is that we need to be able to raise funds in preparation for future disasters.

This enables us to pre-position the stock of aid products in various parts of the world so we can respond quickly to the very urgent need when disaster next strikes. (donations received now are going to restocking tents and other aid products for future disaster aid work)