Invercargill man to help in Nepal

The Southland Times reporter Hannah McLeod ran the following article on 27 August about my deployment to Nepal to help out with the earthquakes that have devastated parts of Kathmandu and the surrounding regions.

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John Hawkins/FAIRFAXNZ                                    Captain Perry Bray, Corps Officer for the Invercargill Salvation Army, will fly to Nepal on Thursday to help offer post-earthquake aid for 10 weeks.

Invercargill man Perry Bray has never owned so many pairs of khaki pants in his life, not to mention the 173 ponchos he has packed away. But he has them for good reason. on Thursday afternoon he will fly out from Invercargill on his way to Nepal to offer post-earthquake aid.

For 10 weeks, Invercargill Salvation Army Corps Officer Captain Bray will live in a tent and work with fellow New Zealand Salvation Army staff and other aid organisations to help the country move from emergency response mode into short and long-term recovery after the April and May earthquakes decimated villages and displaced thousands of people.

He received the call about his secondment on Thursday last week. “It’s a fantastic opportunity but it’s also daunting.”

Bray has some experience of emergency response work, having worked in Christchurch after the 2011 earthquakes. But Nepal offers a bigger challenge. The earthquakes killed more than 8000 people, 1.4 million people are in need of food, and 600,000 houses were destroyed. “At the moment it’s monsoon season [in Nepal], and it’s going to get harder and harder for the people there approaching winter.”

A 4.3 magnitude earthquake rattled the country as recently as last week, and volatile activity like landslides prevented supply trucks from reaching villages in desperate need in the mountainous areas, he said. “It’s a logistical nightmare, and the roading isn’t the best.”

Despite the difficulties he may face, Bray is looking forward to doing all he can, whatever that may be. His first stop will be Kathmandu.

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Captain answers call to head to Nepal

The following article was on the front page of the Southland Express on 27 August written by Allison Beckham.

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Packing: Invercargill Salvation Army Officer (minister) Captain Perry Bray checks his suitcase before heading to Nepal to join an international earthquake response team.

WHEN the request came last week, Invercargill Salvation Army officer (minister) Perry Bray could not say no. He had just a few days to pack before heading to Nepal today on a 10›week deployment with an inter› national earthquake response team.

Six Salvation Army personnel, including two New Zealanders, are assisting with a multi-agency response to help those left home-less and hungry after devastating earthquakes in April. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes, with entire villages flattened.

Mr Bray said the Salvation Army was managing six camps in the Kathmandu Valley, ensuring the safety of residents before they returned to their home communities. Within the first month more than 110,000kg of rice was distributed in the camps, along with items such as food, water, water filters, tarpaulins, tents, solar lamps, hygiene kits, and mosquito nets.

He said he would do whatever was required and expected to face some ‘‘interesting challenges’’. ‘‘It will be a different kettle of fish to what I am used to here…’’ He had been told to take a sleeping mat and sleeping bag so did not expect to be staying in a five star hotel.

Last year Mr Bray attended a conference in Sydney to learn more about the Sphere Project, which helps humanitarian agencies improve the quality of assistance and emergency response. While he had expected that would lead to being deployed somewhere in the world, he had not thought the call would come now, when the church locally was preparing to move from its Tay St base to a new home on Victoria Ave.

When asked to go to Nepal, he said his feelings were mixed, especially as it meant leaving his wife Captain Annette Bray to lead the relocation project. ‘‘On the one hand I thought okay great, this is what I have been trained to do and I’m able to assist where the need is greatest. On the other hand we have so much going on locally at the moment. But we have a good team around us locally to keep the ball moving.’’

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