As families reel from devastating flash floods in Nepal, an Alstonville-based humanitarian leader is helping drive an international response to get shelter and essential supplies into remote mountain communities.

ShelterBox Australia CEO and Alstonville Rotarian Mike Greenslade says a response team is already in Nepal assessing what families need, with the Rotary Club of Alstonville also launching a local appeal to support the effort.

For Mr Greenslade, Nepal is familiar territory.

He was part of the ShelterBox response to the catastrophic 2015 Nepal earthquake and knows just how difficult getting aid into isolated communities can be.

“I think helicopters are the only way aid’s going to get to where it’s needed,” he said.

“Our experience in Nepal is that last-mile logistics tends to be on the back of a very sturdy Nepalese person … who literally has to carry it to where it’s needed.”

Alstonville Rotarian and Shelterbox Australia CEO Mike Greenslade

The latest emergency comes only weeks after Mr Greenslade spoke to Ballina News Daily about ShelterBox’s response in Venezuela, with the organisation also dealing with a disaster in Colombia in between.

In Nepal, the immediate priority is likely to be essential items including blankets, water purification equipment, solar lights and kitchen sets.

But Mr Greenslade expects the response to move towards what ShelterBox calls “transitional shelter” – structures which can later be expanded into something more permanent.

Finding suitable land will be one of the challenges.

“Finding land to put any sort of shelter is extremely difficult in Nepal, as I’m sure you can imagine, with steep mountain sides,” he said.

Rotary connections reach from Alstonville to Nepal

Rotary will play an important role in getting that assistance where it is needed.

ShelterBox was founded by a Rotary club and Mr Greenslade said Rotary members were often among its first contacts when responding to disasters overseas.

Nepal has more than 250 Rotary clubs, providing ShelterBox with connections into communities as well as local and national government, while the organisation is also looking to partner with a Nepalese NGO.

Back home, Mr Greenslade’s own Rotary Club of Alstonville has launched an appeal supporting the ShelterBox response.

ShelterBox Australia has also launched a national emergency appeal.

Mr Greenslade said ShelterBox had now helped more than three million people around the world, with emergency shelter remaining its specialty.

“We’re confident we’ll get the aid to the people that need it most.”

Donations to the ShelterBox Australia and Alstonville Rotary appeals are tax deductible.

HOW TO HELP: Donations to support ShelterBox’s Nepal response can be made through ShelterBox Australia