Worldwide News

WorldWide Shelters and Save the Children USA teamed up Friday to provide 1,000 shelters to aid the victims of Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti.  Shelter is needed in critical mass and these tents will provide a safe haven for thousands of victims with no home.

Relief is on its way to Haiti – WorldWide Shelters and its partners, MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) and IOM (International Organization of Migration), have nearly 2,000 shelters being deployed to the people of Haiti, starting tomorrow and arriving throughout the weekend.

Please join Worldwide Shelters in recognizing the inaugural World Humanitarian Day on August 19th which is dedicated to humanitarians, United Nations workers and other associated personnel who have lost their lives in serving a humanitarian cause. For more info on World Humanitarian Day, please visit their official website by clicking here.

In May of 2009, Worldwide Shelters (WWS) proudly announced that they have entered into a partnership agreement with Latin America/Caribbean NGO, Logistica Humanitaria (LH). As part of the agreement, LH will store, manage and distribute WWS relief tents from their warehouse in Panama.

Currently, there are 800 units of WWS Series 4100 Lightweight Emergency Tents (LWET) pre-stocked with LH, and a further 1,200 LWETs in the WWS warehouse in Jacksonville, Florida. Additionally, WWS has over 200 of their Series 2100 Geodesic Shelters and over 500 of their Series 1100 Transitional Shelter frames readily available in their Jacksonville warehouse.

Worldwide Shelters would like to thank Albert Gornals and Carles Gisbert of Logistica Humanitaria for the hard work they and their staff have contributed to this partnership. To learn more about Logistica Humanitaria, please visit their website at www.logisticahumanitaria.org or contact them at their new office in the City of Knowledge, Panama at +507 317 1872.

On Friday May 22nd, Dries Borghans, Worldwide Shelters’ VP of Engineering embarked on a customer visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka. He flew there to assist in field training local staff workers on the assembly of their relief shelters. In total, WWS sent almost 6,000 shelters to help the local residents of north Sri Lanka, who were displaced by a quarter century of conflict between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Mr. Borghans’ account of his visit was one of humility and determination as his week-long visit was spent primarily in Menik Farm in the District of Vavuniya. This district comprises the majority of nearly 300,000 IDPs who found themselves without shelter and many other basic human needs following the end of the conflict. Mr. Borghans commented that he was amazed at the gracious hospitality of his hosts, as well as their incredible resolve to help their fellow Sri Lankans in a very difficult situation.

Worldwide Shelters provided their shelters to one of the largest relief agencies, IOM (International Organization for Migration) from their distribution centers in Dubai and China. From April 30th to May 10th, WWS air-freighted ten shipments from their warehouses in Dubai and eleven shipments from outside their factory near Tianjin, China. An additional four 40-ft sea freight containers arrived in Colombo the first week in June to complete IOM’s shelter request from WWS.

Worldwide Shelters has thousands of shelters being delivered to Sri Lanka to aid relief efforts and we have thousands more available now in our distribution centers in Dubai, China and the US available for immediate shipment. Contact us 24/7 with any questions or inquires.

Worldwide Shelters is proud to announce their participation in the 2009 International Aid & Trade Conference for the second year in a row. The event is taking place at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington DC, US from July 9th through 10th. This year’s Aid & Trade is also being held in partnership with InterAction, the American Council for Voluntary International Action. For more information on the event, visit the official Aid & Trade website.

Use the link below to register for the event:

International Aid & Trade 2009 Registration

For the second year in a row, Worldwide Shelters will be attending the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development Conference (DIHAD) from April 7th to 9th. The Worldwide Shelters team is honored to be displaying their relief shelters at the Dubai International Convention Center and sharing ideas on international humanitarian aid with the other exhibition attendees and speakers.

To learn more about DIHAD, visit their official site using the link below:

Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development Conference (DIHAD)

Members of Worldwide Shelters (WWS) went on their inaugural visit to Panama to meet with the humanitarians that support the Latin America and Caribbean region. With the outcry for shelter so desperately needed, Panama was the ideal place for WWS to gain a further understanding for its pre-positioning shelter strategy.

Due to the predictable nature of the region’s annual storms, a shelter plan is paramount to assisting the disaster response groups who risk their own lives helping those who need it most.

WWS’ would like to formally thank members from PAHO & the UN-WFP, IOM, MSF and UNICEF for their participation and hosting of their 1st Humanitarian Shelter Meeting in Latin America.

At the time where the entire world is focused on the humanitarian efforts in Dubai, Worldwide Shelters proudly announced our presence at DIHAD 2008. The attendees at the show included the vast majority of humanitarian organizations on the planet. Our exhibition space showcased our flagship products which drew high attention due to the quality and durability of our shelters. Our visitors included the Chairman of the Higher Committee for DIHAD – H.E. Ibrahim Brumelha who is the Cultural and Humanitarian Advisor of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of United Arab Emirates, Ruler of Dubai. Mr. Brumelha was impressed with our products and our commitment to the humanitarian effort.

In addition to H.E. Ibrahim Brumelha, visitors included our partners from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Organization for Migration, World Vision, UNHCR, UNICEF, Save the Children and multiple country specific and local charities. During the course of the week, we took the opportunity to showcase our local distribution facilities in the UAE, where our customers were also able to privately view our latest prototype.

We are very proud of the fact that relief organizations located in countries known for tent manufacturing invited us to present our shelters at their facilities. This further demonstrates how our commitment to quality is changing the face of shelter manufacturing for the humanitarian sector.

The fifth annual edition of DIHAD was addressed by prominent speakers in the humanitarian industry on significant issues and threats to our society, the longer-term implications and the changing nature of the role of the corporate sector. Worldwide Shelters’ commitment to the long-term mission in the humanitarian sector was strengthened by our humble relationships with key members and visitors at this event.

Enjoy some of the images captured: