Quake survivors shiver in flimsy tents as winter bites in northern Pakistan
Shivering with cold and beating snow off their fragile tents with sticks,
Dozens of tents, including ones housing a school and a mosque, collapsed under the weight of 25 centimetres of snow that blanketed the village of Mira Tanolian, about five kilometres south of
No one was hurt, but about 35 families had to re-erect their tents or move in with other families at the settlement, which lies amid the ruins of houses destroyed by the Oct. 8 temblor that killed more than 80,000 people and left 3.5 million homeless.
“Look at me. I’m wearing just one sweater and this one shawl. It’s not enough to cover myself,” said a mother of five, Nasima Bibi, 45, after volunteers helped put her family’s tent back up. “The children are falling sick. We were told we would get additional blankets but they still haven’t come.”
Children huddled around a fire in the camp’s communal kitchen, set up in a destroyed house. Food was being prepared in a big tureen. Residents said they received ample rice, grain and lentils, but need warmer clothes as well as tarpaulins to insulate and waterproof their tents.
“The weather is too cold and the snow is still falling,” said Ghazala, a camp resident who goes by one name. “These tents are not strong enough. We are in big trouble.”
The camp, which is run by an Islamic charity, lies at an altitude of about 1,200 metres. At higher elevations even harsher weather has been reported since the season’s first heavy snowfall over the weekend.
The Pakistan meteorological office forecast continued rain and snow for the next two days and low temperatures of -6 C in the plains, and -14 C above 1,525 metres.
For the second straight day, helicopters from the UN, foreign militaries and Pakistan’s army were not able to deliver winterized tents, clothes, food and other provisions in the quake zone because of poor visibility, said Maj. Farooq Nasir, an army spokesman. They were trying to move supplies by truck, but mudslides and snow have also made some roads impassable, he said.
A road to
Larry Hollingworth, the UN deputy humanitarian co-ordinator, said the weather had forced 100 families to move from the mountains to a camp near Battagram town in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province on Sunday.
He said tents were damp, and aid workers were distributing high-protein foods and warm clothes to children.
There were no confirmed fatalities from the cold, but staff at a Muzaffarabad field hospital said it treated 249 patients Sunday for cold-related illnesses, 30 per cent of them with respiratory infections.
Seven of the patients had “severe chest infection,” an early sign of pneumonia, said a doctor, Hafiz-ur Rahman.
“If better conditions are not provided in the tents, there could be another disaster,” he said.
Source: CBC World News
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Comments
There is a system of styrofoam and light steel that could answer all problems of temporary AND permanant shelter relief, but so far noone is looking at it or evaluating it. See thermasteelcorp.com. Can you do anything to expedite the use of this technology which can provide shelters heated by body heat alone, has survivied earthquake, typhoon, flood and fire, in real time situations?
I am putting together a comprehensive report on the pakistan/kashmir earthquake 2005, to emphasise and demonstrate the dire situation which exists at present for our brothers and sisters in the region. I would like to use some of the accounts which are on this website, do i need any permission to use them and if yes, would you be kind enough to oblige? i would like to receive your reply to me as soon as possible, any additional stats on the earthquake which you could submit to me will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your help,
Mahamed Bashir