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STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL: Burma residents try to fill their buckets with water in Yangon after last weekend's devastating cyclone

LOCAL Rotarians are counting on public support to help them provide rapid relief to victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma.

The cyclone has devastated the country, with official estimates reporting 22,000 killed and a further million left homeless.

President of Dorchester's Casterbridge Rotary Club Mike Beesley said the organisation was looking to raise funds to send 'Shelterboxes' out to the area containing essential emergency relief equipment for people affected by the cyclone.

The Rotary-backed initiative has seen around 600 boxes already sent out to Burma from Cornwall and hundreds more are expected to be sent out.

Mr Beesley said: "What is most needed in these situations is the immediate response and getting help out there quickly.

"The Shelterboxes contain a large family tent, cooking materials and things like that.

"The immediate Rotary response was to send 600 boxes out to Burma and what we try and do locally is to try and raise money to replenish the stocks and supplement the supplies.

"We have already supplied funding locally for some of the smaller 'Aquaboxes', these have water purification equipment, spades, torches and things like that."

Mr Beesley added that the group was trying to organise fundraising activities in Dorchester but there were difficulties with obtaining the required licenses for a street collection.

Secretary John Smith said that the group intended to contact Tesco about holding collections at the store on Weymouth Avenue, possibly on Sundays.

Mr Beesley said that anyone wishing to help pay for or contribute towards a Shelterbox, which cost £490 each, or a smaller Aquabox, costing £150, should contact him on 01305 880055.

Public relations officer for Dorchester Rotary Club Andy Davies said their group was also involved in collecting for Shelterboxes and they were currently investigating the possibility of fundraising events or public collections.

Paul Tindall, of Melcombe Regis Rotary Club in Weymouth, said that all Rotary clubs in Weymouth, Portland and Dorchester had wasted no time in contributing towards the Shelterbox effort. He added: "We were the first in with the Rotary Shelterboxes.

"We as members of the Rotary in Weymouth have already sent thousands of pounds to the Shelterbox appeal."

Mr Tindall said the Melcombe Regis group met last night, with the Burma situation top of the agenda and was hoping for a similar response to the tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004, when the club was inundated with donations.

He added: "Every pound we get we will send straight out there. Although there is no Rotary club in Burma, that shouldn't stop the aid getting in and we already have people working out there."

Anyone in Weymouth wishing to make a contribution to the Shelterbox effort can send it to the Melcombe Regis Rotary Club c/o the Prince Regent Hotel, The Esplanade, Weymouth, DT4 7EH. Members of the Melcombe Regis club will also be outside Debenhams on Saturday and Sunday collecting donations for the appeal.

9:15am Friday 9th May 2008

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