DART deploy to Northern Samar!

[Forst Woodchippers]

[xfloat=left]http://www.arbtalk.co.uk/images/dart.jpg[/xfloat]The DART lads are at it again – this time in Northern Samar in the Philippines, sacrificing their Christmas break to help humanity and get children back to school. This honorable team of 4 are working hard purely for the good of others, some of them are self-employed arborists who won’t be earning for at least two weeks whilst they put others first. DART has many excellent volunteers on the books but the team in Northern Samar right now is Gary Bailey, Jimmy Enticknap-Green, Graham Beer and Jono Finlow.

 

Först and Redwood Global are sponsoring the cause along with DART’s other corporate sponsors, Glendale Managed Services, Makita UK and Stein Products Ltd.

 

Först / Redwood Global are proud to sponsor the excellent cause, and support the team including Jimmy Enticknap-Green a former Redwood Global employee and now the owner of his own Tree Surgery Company in Hampshire.

 

 

03/01/16

 

First update from our team in ‪#‎NorthernSamar‬:

 

The DART team arrived safely in San Jose early on the 2nd Jan and got straight to work. The weather is reportedly very hot, but the team are ‘on task’ and in good spirits. As anticipated, the Mayor’s first priority was to make the Central School safe from windblown tree damage and hanging branches so that the construction of temporary learning spaces can begin. Schools across the region are due to open on the 4th, although it’s not yet clear to what extent many of them will be able to function. Getting children back to school after events such as these is vitally important. Apart from the obvious importance of continuing their education, school represents a return to normal routines for children whose lives at home may have been, quite literally, turned upside down by the typhoon. There are no other international ‪#‎NGOs‬ working in the area, but the DART team is coordinating with the local government and Philippines ‪#‎Rotary‬ organisations who are continuing to deliver aid supplies from further south in Leyte, some 5 to 8 hours drive from San Jose.

 

 

01/01/16

 

Just over two weeks ago, ‪#‎typhoonMELOR‬ (known locally as ‪#‎NONA‬) swept across the central Philippines with winds gusting in excess of 165kph. Three quarters of a million people were evacuated, 100,000 homes destroyed, 181,000 damaged and 290,000 people continue to receive shelter and food aid.

Across the path of the typhoon, 42 people are known to have lost their lives with many others missing or injured. Some 39 health facilities have been damaged and 420 schools. The ‪#‎Government‬’s latest assessment is that 950 classrooms have been destroyed and 1420 damaged.

On New Year’s Eve, in response to a direct request from the municipal mayor of San Jose, DART International deployed a 4 man team to one of the worst affected regions in ‪#‎NorthernSamar‬. In addition to delivering specialist advice and assistance, the team will offer training to help the local community build resilience against future typhoon events.

The Charity would like to thank its ‪#‎volunteers‬ and ‪#‎sponsors‬ from the‪#‎UKArborist‬ Industry for their continued support and generosity, especially, Stein Products Limited, Glendale Managed Services, Makita UK and Forst.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Steve Bullman

[naturarbo]

respect and positive vibes for them what heroes

[Steve Bullman]

Is this their second job now?

[Goaty]

Is this their second job now?

 

Second that I'm aware of the other being vanawatu.

 

Good effort by all involved. It's probably one of the last things people think of doing, but is a primary relief effort before other things happen.

[silky fox]

First response...what an honourable job. Well done DART.

[Forst Woodchippers]

Yes this is their second deployment, below is the latest update received yesterday:

 

Alongside the ongoing clearance work at the San Jose Central School, the team have been training carefully selected local volunteers in safe chainsaw handling and basic arborist skills. In a country that experiences around 20 typhoons a year, the Philippine people are all too familiar with the problems and dangers caused by windblown trees and the local government is fully behind the DART training and resilience initiative.

 

Our aim is to leave a legacy of DART's work in San Jose. On conclusion of their training programme, the locally trained volunteers will in turn train others in their community. Another aspect of the team's 'resilience building' work has been to identify and manage trees that represent an obvious danger in the future; pruning back high risk trees in the school grounds, especially those that are adjacent to, or overhanging, classrooms.

 

Having almost concluded clearance work at San Jose Central School and having made a financial donation to the Principal Mrs Endino and Chair of the PTA Dr Perez, the team are assisting them in the procurement of building materials and local volunteers to help repair and re-roof the damaged classrooms.

 

Tomorrow they move to St Jose Technical High School to begin work on the town's secondary school. The team are all well and in good spirits; generally overwhelmed by the gratitude of the local community for the work they're doing. In turn we're very grateful for your continued support towards the DART project.

 

psa some photos of the team meeting local officials and most importantly, the kids!

[Mike Hill]

Is this their second job now?

 

Alot of their work is classified Steve.

[Ian88]

Good work! Hopefully getting some DART training this year so I can get involved in the future.

[cyrustrees]

Do you need experienced volunteers? I've got a lot of experience in tree work (including emergency work) travelling, mechanics and off-road driving. Also basic first aid (though needs refreshing)...

[jonmackeen]

Do you need experienced volunteers? I've got a lot of experience in tree work (including emergency work) travelling, mechanics and off-road driving. Also basic first aid (though needs refreshing)...

 

DART are always looking for new volunteers, if you go to this page on the website it will explain what they are looking for and what is expected of the volunteers.

http://www.dartinternational.co.uk/become-a-dart-volunteer