Urgent Aid Offered to Pakistan's Quake Victims as Harsh Winter Sets In

An international humanitarian group has offered aid to over one hundred thousand Pakistani earthquake victims, helping them to survive through the harsh winter.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Pakistan Red Crescent have been giving out shelter materials and relief items to the still-vulnerable survivors of the 2005 earthquake in the northern part of Pakistan.

The distribution began in early December last year and will go on until the end of January.

Almost 13,500 families, equivalent to approximately 100,000 people across the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, are set to receive the relief items.

Pakistan Red Crescent Field Officer, Irfan Hameed said the relief effort was very urgent due to snowfall which had come earlier than usual in the Allai Valley, in the north of Pakistan.

"It will be a harsh winter this year, harsher than the previous one," he said.

The relief items include corrugated, galvanized iron sheets, which are used to improve shelters, as well as repair kits, quilts, blankets, and tarpaulins.

Hundreds of thousands of victims still do not have a permanent shelter even after more than a year since the earthquake struck in October 2005.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, founded in 1919, promotes itself as the world's largest humanitarian organisation. IFRC comprises 185 member Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, a Secretariat in Geneva and more than 60 delegations strategically located to support activities around the world.