BORN IN DISASTER

In 2017, a cyclone hit North Queensland, Australia. Within 12hours, a team of emergency service trained and civilians
joined together to provide rescue & relief efforts on the ground applying their skills and experience to aid the humanitarian response to fill the initial gaps we had noticed.

From the debris and the water, NDMS was formed. A humanitarian focused not for profit social enterprise designed to provide one thing: ACTION.

Established by Sam Stenberg and with the assistance of an experienced committee, NDMS brought together a team of extraordinary people, united by purpose and driven by
passion, who would push themselves farther and harder to help people in need.

We’ve been responding to disasters ever since – to Cyclones in Queensland; to fire in QLD/NSW and floods in QLD & NSW.

Saving lives and alleviating suffering; there for people in their darkest moments.

We’ve done it against the odds:
without money, without reputation and support, without proper kit and equipment.

We couldn’t afford to send large teams and put them up in hotels, so we sent small teams and put them up in tents or swags. We didn’t have transport, so we made connections on the ground and secured rides in helicopters, trucks, tractors  and personal utes and 4wd and anything we could really.

We grew lean, agile and resilient
while remaining determined to reach the most vulnerable. Our lack of resources wasn’t a weakness but rather our resourcefulness was our strength. We could go places others couldn’t due to our experience and training.

Our Responders ventured to the remotest, most isolated, farthest corners of impacted communities, where
international aid and large centralised resources hadn’t or couldn’t reach. We reached those people. We put ourselves in with communities in some of the worst hit areas. We didn’t arrive with ready-made solutions but sought to learn and understand needs and work through challenges and problems together.

We became the link between cut-off communities and conventional humanitarian relief; getting aid that was needed to where it was most needed. We provided something different that filled a critical gap in the humanitarian sector: trained humanitarians who could be sent anywhere to take action and make things happen but also understood social responsibility and sustainable models.

We became better, stronger, more capable.

We go wherever we are most needed. As long as there exist people in need, our story and growth will continue.