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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Supplies on the way
The first supply trucks have left to the disaster zone. Brian managed to procure several tons of grains, oil and pulses as wellas plastic sheeting and some buckets, pots and pans. Most other agencies are trying to fly or ship stuff in and it is a real credit to Brian that he has been able to procure things locally at a good rate and has save considerable expense. The quality is good of the supplies and similar to what UN agencies would normally supply. Our Emergency team members started arriving back yesterday and we are now waiting for their visa's which could take some time. Kerry's visa will be ready tomorow and she will be on the ground by the end of the week.
We are still having trouble with the money transfers apart from Brian's visa card so we have topped up his card again with the second tranche of $340,000. We will be having a conference call with Brian and the crisis team later this afternoon.The crisis team meetings have been really important to get the organisation together. Although they usually last 3-4 hours per day they are really critical for us to be able to move forward as a unit. The China earthquake could distract media attention from the cyclone and reduce our fund raising potential but we discuss contingencies for this I guess in the meeting.
