Further to my recent email regarding the Toga Disaster, I contacted Brian Ashworth from Disaster Aid Australia to find out if they were doing anything to assist the Tongan relief operation. I have attached Brian's response to this email below.
The second event was the release of the WHO World Malaria Report 2021. The take home messages from the report are;
- 241million malaria cases were recorded in 2020, an increase of 14 million from 2019.
- There were 627,000 deaths recorded in 2020, an increase of 69,000 on the previous year.
- 96% of the cases were in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Regards to Everyone,
Noel Howard
District 9780 RAWCS/RAN Chair
Disaster Aid Australia as a smaller Rotary Charity is committed to delivering cost effective aid to respect the value of the donations we receive.
We also like to make a difference smaller communities the bigger aid agencies miss.
Also our model is based on finding out what the communities need, not what we might think they need.
Other than our SkyHydrants for safe water, we look for things we can deliver locally than try and manage major import of materials with its consequential delays.
To do this we need at least one of the following:
- An effective local partner which may be a Rotary Club or an NGO.
- DAA volunteers on site.
- Knowing the needs of the community that can be provided by local purchase.
As we have not worked in Tonga for many years, lack of communications, and no ability to travel we have no plan of action to date. (we have been in communication with Australian Rotary Clubs with Tonga experience but to date due to communication issues they are in a similar position)
Also COVID has severely limited our income over the past two years and we are currently highly committed to the recovery from Super Typhoon Odette which hit the Philippines in late December. We are working with our long established and trusted partner Balay Mindanaw on the island of Dinagat where approximately 20,000 homes have been destroyed.
Since 20th December
- DAA Tents and SkyHydrants, stored in the Philippines, have been deployed;
- Financial support provided for food packages and tarpaulins;
- 10 additional SkyHydrants shipped.
- An additional grant for rebuilding made.
We have been in touch with SkyJuice, suppliers of the SkyHydrant and in discussions believe the early presence of Australian Navy ships with considerable ability to desalinate seawater is likely to provide the quickest way of providing drinking water.
(Although SkyHydrants can filter water contaminated with volcanic dust the nature of the dust quickly damages the membranes)
Regards
Brian
Brian Ashworth
CEO (Honorary)
Web Site: www.disasteraidaustralia.org.au
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