VITAL aid made possible by the generous people of Dorchester has been making a difference in the wake of the Philippines typhoon disaster.

The county town rallied round after the typhoon struck last year, helping rotarians raise more than £10,000.

The money was used by the rotary club to fund Shelterboxes and Water Survival Boxes to provide relief to those affected by the disaster.

The Water Survival Boxes were collected at the Rotary Club of Chelwood Bridge in Somerset before being shipped out to Tacloban City and some were taken on to Olatayan Island.

A total of 60 of the first 600 Water Survival Boxes sent to one of two government forward command posts at Roxas City were funded by the Dorchester effort and were distributed on behalf of the rotary club by the Canadian Humanity First team.

After reports that access to clean water remained a major unmet need for many of the families displaced by or affected by the typhoon, a second consignment of boxes was sent out to the Philippines and arrived in Roxas City on Boxing Day while a further 240 are being made available.

Atual Layah, who has been running the Humanity First operation in Roxas City, told the Rotary: “You cannot imagine how much the recipients of the Water Survival Boxes appreciated your donation. I wish you could have seen their faces.

“Thanks for your help and keep up the good work.”

A spokesman for the Rotary Club of Dorchester praised the county town for funding 60 of the boxes that were among the first to be sent out to the Philippines.

He said: “Bearing in mind that half the total was also donated to Shelterbox, this is a massive testament to the people of the county town.

“There is continuing demand for boxes into the future, because of as yet unseen disasters that will inevitably hit some part of the world in the future.”