Jonathan goes to the aid of Haiti victims

News Guardian – March 4, 2010

Jonathan goes to the aid of Haiti victims – News Guardian – March 4, 2010

IN the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake, Cullercoats-based funeral director Jonathan Ryland has been to the Caribbean island as part of an international aid team.

He was based in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where he worked alongside forensic scientists, embalmers, mortuary technicians, bereavement councillors and logistic personnel.

Jonathan was flown out with just 24 hours notice and was assigned to a rotating distress team organised by Kenyon International Emergency Services.

Jonathan’s parents, Edward and Brenda Ryland, said: “It has been hard, tiring and hazardous work, but he was scheduled to be in Haiti for a short time.”

The trip was the second time he has been called out to a major disaster zone. In 2005 he spent three weeks in Thailand after the Boxing Day tsunami.