A Cranbrook resident has made a $500 donation to the Sunrise Rotary Club's ShelterBox campaign to aid earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan and it's hoped this will be the first of many more donations to come.

Warren Moore, a retired pilot and Crestbrook employee, says having visited Japan himself and the insights he gained from his daughter working there, made him determined to do what he could to help.

"You look at the devastation and all those homes washed away and I thought, 'Gee, this looks like a good opportunity for something like the ShelterBox program to help out.' So I decided this is what I want to do."

The fact that each ShelterBox contains a tent that can sleep 10 people as well as blankets, tools, a cook stove, a water purifier, First Aid kit and other emergency supplies makes the program an essential first resource when disaster strikes, says Moore. "It's quite a concept. They're going to need all that stuff so this is my way of helping out."

When natural disasters have occurred in the past, Cranbrook residents have always been quick to help out and there's no reason why it should be any different this time, Moore says. "We're a generous city and we've just watched a tragedy unfold over there and we can do more."

Sunrise Rotary President Mike Burnham says he feels the same, and in addition to commending Moore for his donation, threw in another $100 himself on behalf of the club. "I would encourage everyone to put their money where their pocketbook is for this great cause. It's the humanitarian thing to do. When you think of what those people have lost, I hope as many as possible donate."

Anyone wishing to donate can drop their cheque off at the Daily Townsman office, payable to the Sunrise Rotary ShelterBox Campaign, and they will receive a charitable receipt. The Club's goal is to raise $2,000 for the purchase of two more ShelterBoxes for Japanese quake relief. The Daily Townsman is helping by charting the campaign's progress on a thermometre graphic displayed periodically in the paper.

The loss of life in the Japanese quake and tsunami has now been pegged at more than 25,000 and property damage at over $300 billion. Insurance payouts are expected to be as much as $30 billion. No estimate has been made yet on the cost of replacing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant which is still spewing radiation over a wide area.

Meanwhile in an email from London, England, where she was on business, ShelterBox Canada Executive Director Lisa Salapatek says Canadians have responded very generously to the current campaign, enabling ShelterBox Canada to support relief work in Japan as well as to prepare ShelterBox to respond quickly to future disasters in other areas of the world.

Much of this support has come from Rotarians across the country, Salapatek says.

She says Canadian ShelterBox Response Team member and ShelterBox Canada Board Chair Ron Noseworthy was part of the volunteer team working in Japan, distributing ShelterBoxes to families that lost everything. While working about 500km north east of Tokyo along the Pacific Coast, Noseworthy said the devastation was staggering.

"We drove through the mountains to get to the port city of Miyako. The mountains were beautiful and as we entered the city there was very little evidence of the earthquake due to the superior construction of the buildings and then we came upon the terrible scenes of destruction at the coast. The tsunami has done most of the damage. The Japanese are appreciative of our tents and equipment and are going about the process of rebuilding their lives."

Salapatek says Japanese Rotarians are helping to organize the ShelterBox effort. "The families that ShelterBox has helped in Japan have expressed their amazement at the generosity donors around the world have shown towards them during their time of need. Japanese Rotarians have been instrumental in our ability to identify the communities in most need and to deliver aid to these areas."

Local Japanese Rotarians are providing logistical support including transportation, accommodation, and translation, all of which has been essential to the ShelterBox Response Team in Japan, she says. Despite the work of the Japanese and the aid that's poured into the country from overseas, much still needs to be done, says Salapatek.

"ShelterBox Response Teams (SRTs) continue to work along the affected areas of Japan's northeast coast. They are delivering emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies to families who lost all they had when the tsunami struck. Our ShelterBox Response Team members assess the ongoing need for support on a daily basis. ShelterBox has sent 1,000 ShelterBoxes to Japan so far and another 500 are on the way and more if required."

ShelterBox Response Team members were on the ground in Japan within 24 hours of the earthquake and will continue to provide support to the people of Japan as long as it is needed, Salapatek says. Some 1,000 ShelterBoxes have been delivered to the quake and tsunami-damaged country already.

Salapatek says she's heard the talk that Japan is a rich country and doesn't really need all the aid it's getting. But this belief is untrue, she says.

"While Japan is a county with a high level of disaster-preparedness,  the level of destruction from this disaster - particularly in the tsunami-affected areas - was immense. Local government officials in the northern region requested the support of ShelterBox to help their communities. In Yamamoto, a town near Sendai, ShelterBox Response Team members found 30 families living in cars outside an evacuation centre. Their homes were destroyed when the tsunami hit and they had been living in their cars until ShelterBoxes were provided to all 30 families to help them rebuild their lives."

Noseworthy expressed similar sentiments. "Japan is an advanced first-world country and has a very strong emergency response capability.  However, the shear size of the disaster is daunting and we have been supplementing their relief efforts and filling the gaps in their system, much to their appreciation."

Meanwhile Kimberley Rotary Club member Graham Mann, who's spearheaded a highly successful ShelterBox campaign in the Alpine City, says the campaign fulfills one of the four main tenets of the Rotary organization, "service above self." Since the quake struck March 11, Kimberley residents have donated close to $12,000 to the campaign, enabling a dozen of the valuable emergency boxes to be sent to be sent to Japan or to other countries where disaster strikes. A further $6,000 has been pledged by the City of Kimberley, Mann says.

"This is a very much needed and tangible device for helping people in disaster areas and when people donate they trust who they're donating to and they know there's not going to be a great big sum taken out for administration because it's all done by volunteers." The Japanese also greatly appreciate the ShelterBox tents because of the importance of privacy in the Japanese culture, Mann says.

With the need still great, Mann says he encourages Cranbrook residents to get behind the ShelterBox campaign the way Kimberley residents have. "If it works in Kimberley, I don't see why it shouldn't work the same in Cranbrook."