Relief Agencies Continue Fight Against Time for Pakistan’s Quake Survivors

World Vision is warning of a great “race against time” to protect the scores of homeless earthquake survivors in Pakistan from the ravaging effects of the Himalayan winter.

|PIC1|The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, which is a coalition of aid agencies that include World Vision, has reported its urgent concerns for the devastated communities in Pakistan that are currently living in temporary tents.

World Vision report that aid agencies are currently researching into alternative types of shelter materials ranging from fibre-glass and corrugated metal to bunker-like trenches.

The latest initiative to provide different types of shelter has come after the agencies were told that it is highly unlikely that they will receive enough water-proof tents before winter arrives in a matter of weeks.

Chris McDonald, World Vision’s Emergency Officer told, “With snow likely to block roads in the next two to three weeks, it is imperative that people in this high mountainous region either have warm shelter distributed to where they are and enough food to get through the winter, or that they come down to where they can be more easily helped.”

The aid worker continued, “World Vision Pakistan is now working hard to find fast solutions. We may pay for winterised tent-like units from Alaska and help to construct temporary huts with corrugated iron and foam insulation.”

|TOP|So far World Vision has provided more than 1,000 families in the Mansehra district, North West Frontier Province, with winterised tents, cooking sets, blankets and tarpaulins.

As time continues to run out for literally hundreds of thousands of people stranded in Pakistan’s mountainous regions, World Vision is looking to reach out to at least 15,000 families in this initial emergency stage of operations.

McDonald concluded, “It’s a race against the imminent bad weather and navigating damaged terrain. The window of opportunity is fast closing, and we need to ensure these communities have adequate protection from the onslaught of winter.”

Meanwhile, the Salvation Army, which sent an earthquake relief team to Pakistan for the northern town of Abbotabad on Oct. 14, recently reported that a total of 289 tents were distributed in four villages – Sherash, Khet, Kai and Dander – in the Balakot region. The distribution was done with the help of Pakistani military personnel, without whose aid the team would have been hard-pressed to do its work, the Salvation Army reported.

“The troops were invaluable to the effort, providing logistical help and also the physical manpower to distribute relief supplies and erect tents in extremely difficult terrain,” according to a report by Katie Baddams, a member of the Communications Section at the Salvation Army International Headquarters.

According to Baddams, the Salvation Army has plans to distribute many more tents in the Balakot region