UN-Habitat launches quake shelter programme

The United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) on Saturday launched a transitional winterised shelter initiative in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir and close to the epicentre of October’s devastating quake that killed more than 80,000 people. "This [transitional shelter programme] will enable people to get through the winter comfortably. It involves the use of salvage material from demolished houses in combination with some new materials, specifically tin sheeting, as a way to give survivors a robust shelter to get through the winter," Szilard Fricska, a human settlement officer at UN-Habitat in Pakistan, said in the capital, Islamabad, on Saturday. Around 400,000 housing units have been damaged or destroyed following the quake in northern parts of Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, with almost 85 percent of the devastation occurring in rural, mountainous areas. Progress on transitional shelter for quake victims has so far been slow, with just over 1,000 units having been erected in the quake zone by the Pakistani army while another 458 are under construction. In addition, as part of 'Operation Winter Race' - focusing on providing shelter repair kits to earthquake survivors living above 1,500 m, a total of 865 shelter kits have been delivered to parts of Muzaffarabad and Batagram districts, with another 800 ready for distribution, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The agency plans to help at least 10,000 families by the end of November - when the window of opportunity to bring assistance will rapidly close as snows seal many of the high passes. Under the UN-Habitat plan, some 1,000 shelters would be erected in two areas: Machiara in the Muzaffarabad district of Pakistani-administered Kashmir and Siran Valley in the Mansehra district of North West Frontier Province (NWFP). This shelter-building plan, launched together with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as implementing partner, will use soil-filled plastic bags for walls and tin sheeting for a roof. "This environment-friendly initiative will minimise the use of timber at high altitudes ultimately eliminating the risk of further deforestation in northern parts of the country," said John Regge, a disaster management adviser with UN-Habitat in Islamabad. The type of shelter being used costs US $360 per unit and even has space at the back to keep livestock warm and dry during the bitter winter in the region. According to a UN estimate, some 600,000 tents were needed initially in the quake zone. Foreign donors have given more than 132,000 and Islamabad has donated 241,000. But the IOM is concerned that many of these tents are not capable of keeping quake survivors warm.