About Disaster Aid USA
Disaster Aid USA (DA USA), a Rotary Club project that began in 2010 (Incorporated in the District of Columbia and is a registered 501-c3 charity) is a member of the over-arching body known as Disaster Aid International (DAI). Other members of DAI are Rotary Club projects in Malaysia, UK & Ireland, Australia and soon, from other countries. The President and chairman of DA USA is PDG Bob Grill (a member of the Historic Rotary Club of P.G. County MD, Rotary District 7620) DA USA's Executive Director is Kenneth Larry Agee (a member of the Sulphur Sunrise Rotary Club, Sulphur, LA, Rotary District 6200. Larry is also the designer of the DAI's Family Survival 8 Person Tent.October 2014
DA USA's board of officers and directors (all Rotarians) meet monthly by teleconference with directors in six of the 11 U.S. Rotary zones (21-B, 25, 26, 31, 32 & 33) with two directors in zone 26 (California and Hawaii.) It's board also includes advisors (Rotarians & non-Rotarians)
DARTs – Disaster Aid Response Team members – are a vital part of our organization. We have highly trained American volunteers (many are Rotarians) who have worked in Haiti, Sudan, Pakistan, Philippines and Malaysia delivering aid and "rebuilding communities" to those who are suffering and in desperate need. They work with locals (including NGOs, government and other agencies, Rotary clubs and Rotarians) as they rebuild their lives and communities. Those deployments have taught us a lot. In particular, working in the Philippines with local NGO The Balay Mindanaw Foundation after two massive Typhoons (preceded by an earthquake), we asked affected local people what they needed most.
Rather than provide them with a box of aid that "we" considered they would need, we found by asking, that they wanted (for example) tarpaulins ... not tents ... and basic building materials. So that is exactly what we did. Importantly, we (our DARTs) stayed on, living in the villages with local people and providing direct and extensive assistance.
We work closely with the Australian not-for-profit organisation, SkyJuiceTM Foundation, along with others to provide clean, safe water to those in need in developing countries. We also arrange training in the operation of the remarkable SkyHydrantTM water filtration unit; a lightweight, sustainable and affordable water filtration system for humanitarian projects, emergency and disaster relief.
Rtn. Wayne Beaumier from Rotary Club of Bear Creek Copperfield will soon be traveling to India to assist with disaster aid. Landslides and flash floods triggered by massive monsoon rains killed hundreds in northern India, Jammu & Kashmir, and Nepal. Reports in Associated Press said, "Five days of incessant rain (in the area) has seen the worst flooding in more than five decades."
Our Rotarian friends in India sought our help and we sent in aid materials to Mumbai for distribution by the locals. We were advised that it is unsafe to send our DARTs into many of the affected areas so we directed our aid efforts to provision of materials, and to training locals in the Mumbai precinct. However, we are working on the ground in Nepal, where DAI's Deployment Manager (and Rotarian) Ed Cox is now based.
For more information, please go to: https://www.facebook.com/disasteraidusa