Two Cornish aid charities are sending teams to the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan last Friday – one of the strongest storms every recorded.

Helston-based ShelterBox has already released its pre-positioned aid, which it had stored in a former US air base following.

More response teams will be arriving in the next day or two to provide back up to the two-man team that had already been on the ground in the wake of last month’s earthquake.

The charity is now looking at whether to call on other stock held at Dubai, Subang near Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Melbourne in Australia and at its Helston headquarters.

Having weathered the storm on Bohol island, ShelterBox Response Team member Mark Dyer is now busy with colleagues helping local people and organisations to cope with the aftermath.

He said: “Many people on Bohol were already living in tented structures, and away from their usual homes, after the earthquake. We had been setting up camps and putting people back on their own property.

“When we knew the typhoon was coming we advised people to lower the tents before the storm. So we are now going back to help people put these tents back up, so they will at least have places to live for the next few weeks.”

Meanwhile, Redruth-based Shelter For Humanity has sent a four-man team to help in the aftermath of the storm, which forced 500,000 people from their homes and left 10,000 dead in its path.

Mike Metcalfe, Gary Bailey, Niamh Coleman and John Henderson left yesterday to team up with two trained response team members already based in the Philippines. .

An initial aid of 200 family-sized tents have been air-freighted into the disaster area.

An additional two- and four-man team are standing by, and are ready to leave in the next few days.

Founder Tom Henderson said: “We’re delighted to be in a position to respond to the Philippines Cyclone disaster – our response team are on the way. We are looking forward to making a difference in a meaningful way.”