MONTREAL, Sept. 26, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - On September 19, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico, killing 305, injuring 2,631, and leaving more than 3,000 people in need of shelter in Mexico City, Morelos, and Puebla. 65 shelters have opened in Mexico City and 100 more have been opened in surrounding areas.
GlobalMedic and Air Canada are responding. On Wednesday, September 27, GlobalMedic volunteers will join Air Canada employees in packing Hygiene Kits for affected people staying in the emergency shelters. Each kit will contain essential hygiene items such as soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, as well as Aquatab Water Purification Tablets, each capable of purifying 10 liters of drinking water. This aid will keep families safe from deadly communicable diseases and provide a sense of dignity during this dire time.
The kits will be packaged at the Air Canada head office in Montreal and will be delivered to the Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport where they will board an Air Canada flight to Mexico. Two members of GlobalMedic's Rapid Response Team will accompany the shipment and facilitate deliveries to shelters upon arrival.
GlobalMedic and Air Canada have a long-standing partnership when it comes to humanitarian support and emergency response. Over the past few years, Air Canada has supported GlobalMedic by transporting essential aid to Winnipeg to support newly arrived refuges in 2017, Fort McMurray during the wildfires in 2016, Haiti following Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and to Dominica following tropical storms in 2015.
In response to Hurricane Irma, Air Canada has supported GlobalMedic through the transportation of water purification tablets into Antigua within days of the storm, as well as water purification solutions to Cuba and Dominica. Air Canada has also supported GlobalMedic by transporting a Rapid Response Team – consisting of two volunteer firefighters, one paramedic and an engineer from Aeryon Labs – to St. Maarten with a drone, 756 Hygiene Kits, 200 Family Emergency Kits, and two AquaResponse3 Water Purification Systems. Air Canada will be once again supporting GlobalMedic by transporting another Rapid Response Team to Mexico, along with the supplies being packaged Wednesday, September 27.
Media are invited to attend the packing event. GlobalMedic and Air Canada Foundation representatives will be available for interviews. Please RSVP at media@aircanada.ca.
Date & Time
Wednesday, September 27
1:00PM-3:00PM
Location
Rooms 201-458/201-488, Building 2
Air Canada Headquarters, Montreal
7373 Cote-Vertu West,
St-Laurent, Quebec H4S 1Z3
About GlobalMedic
GlobalMedic is a registered Canadian charity that runs capacity building programs and provides disaster relief services to large-scale catastrophes around the world.
GlobalMedic has responded to 181 disasters in 63 countries, including earthquakes in Ecuador, Haiti, Japan and Nepal; tsunamis in Japan and Sri Lanka; typhoons in the Philippines and Taiwan; hurricanes in Grenada and Guatemala; cyclones in India, Myanmar and Vanuatu; floods in Bangladesh, Mexico and Pakistan; drought and famine in Kenya and Mauritania; epidemics in Liberia and Sierra Leone; and complex emergencies in Gaza, Iraq, Mali, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
GlobalMedic has been using innovative UAV technology to save lives since 2014. UAVs helped us respond to Typhoon Hagupit in the Philippines, the 2015 earthquake in Nepal, the 2016 earthquake in Ecuador, and the 2017 landslides in Colombia. Imagery captured by our UAVs identified the most vulnerable and affected communities, allowing our teams to deliver aid where it was needed most. Through these responses, GlobalMedic is emerging as a leader in the operation of UAVs in disaster zones.
www.globalmedic.ca
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About Air Canada
Air Canada is Canada's largest domestic and international airline serving more than 200 airports on six continents. Canada's flag carrier is among the 20 largest airlines in the world and in 2016 served close to 45 million customers. Air Canada provides scheduled passenger service directly to 64 airports in Canada, 57 in the United States and 96 in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America. Air Canada is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world's most comprehensive air transportation network serving 1,300 airports in 191 countries. Air Canada is the only international network carrier in North America to receive a Four-Star ranking according to independent U.K. research firm Skytrax, which also named Air Canada the 2017 Best Airline in North America. For more information, please visit: www.aircanada.com, follow @AirCanada on Twitter and join Air Canada on Facebook.
SOURCE Air Canada
