November 28, 2005

ISLAMABAD – As cold, heavy rains and snow shut down helicopter relief Sunday for Pakistan's earthquake survivors, hundreds of thousands are still without shelter. But humanitarian agency Church World Service's Marvin Parvez says while many more tents are needed in the race against winter, tents are not the only answer and fire hazards are posing serious concerns.

Parvez is Pakistan-Afghanistan Regional Director for international humanitarian agency Church World Service. From Islamabad today, Parvez said, "Our aid teams have already seen fire in a tent in Balakot. And in Maiddan, two children died tragically in the past few days from a tent fire and others have been injured." The village of Maiddan, 160 km north of Islamabad, was destroyed in the quake.

Parvez said, "As we're traveling throughout the affected areas, we see thousands of tents and more going up. We're calling on our colleagues in the aid community to help address this two- edged sword of Pakistan's earthquake survivors seeking shelter in tents. Many of the emergency tents aren't winterized, so people are lighting fires inside to keep warm," he said.

"Of course we're all working night and day to provide as quickly as we can whatever temporary shelter we can get from governments' and aid organizations' contributions, " Parvez noted. "But we're highly concerned for people's safety in tent environments. Many of these survivors have never lived in tents, have no knowledge of the fire hazards facing them, and they're not being given basic fire prevention instructions or any kind of fire extinguishing equipment," said Parvez. "It only takes one candle."

Parvez says Church World Service is urging all non-governmental agencies (NGOs) responding in Pakistan "to work together to at least give the survivors basic safety instructions." With offices throughout Pakistan, CWS is chair of the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum.

From its offices in Washington, CWS Emergency Response Program Director Donna J. Derr said "There are no hand-held fire extinguishers in the affected areas, as are available for commercial and household use in some other countries.

"For extreme and complex disaster sites in frigid climates like Northern Kashmir," she said, "certain basic fire-extinguishing aids should be as much a part of tent or shelter supplies as the heating equipment that's also now needed to protect Pakistan's vulnerable survivors from winter's killing cold." Derr said CWS is pursuing additional resources for alternative shelter options and additional heating equipment and for solutions to the fire hazard concerns.

"In addition to the fire hazards, the demand for winterized tents is bigger than the supplies available," CWS's Parvez said. "For those reasons, Church World Service also began providing alternative shelter materials early on in the rescue and recovery mission."

"There are no perfect solutions and none seem quick enough or in sufficient quantity to accomplish the unprecedented task at hand," Parvez said, eyeing the descending Himalayan winter. Up to 8 inches of snow fell Sunday in some higher Himalayan elevations.

On November 5, CWS and its partners Finnchurchaid, Norwegian Church Aid and Great Britain's Christian Aid distributed a donation from Finland's Ministry of the Interior of enough winterized tents and heaters to shelter 15,000 people, along with blankets and sweaters.

The Pakistan government, CWS, its partner INGOs and other responders are turning to providing corrugated tin sheeting to survivors* some of which is confiscated from the roofs of mud brick homes that are otherwise rubble following the massive quake. The metal sheeting is fireproof and can withstand strong winds.

According to an Associated Press report on Saturday, Pakistan relief director Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan said troops, volunteers and aid groups are helping survivors who have stayed in mountain villages to build at least one room from the rubble of their homes then pitch tents nearby.

"We still have a long way to go," says Parvez.

United Nations relief coordinator Jan Vandermortele said the UN and other agencies have so far received less than half of the $550 million urgently requested for food, shelter and health care, according to a November 26 AP report.

Visiting the damaged region over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, actress Angelina Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, saw the survivors' plight firsthand and asked world donors to quickly deliver on their aid pledges.

"The pledges need to materialize soon," Jolie told AP. "From what I'm understanding, there are so many wonderful pledges of money that could come in the next few years, but this winter is in the next few weeks, and so many people are in danger of possibly freezing to death.'‘

"Now, with snow and freezing rain already falling," says Parvez, "canvas tents are wet and offer even less protection from the cold. How will families keep warm if they can't light a fire? "

Church World Service