Oxfam Partner Delivers Winterized Tents to a Remote Pakistan Valley
14 December 2005
In the earthquake-ravaged region of Pakistan, some stranded villagers were still living without shelter by the end of November. Sungi, a local aid organization, has been working with Oxfam to distribute hundreds of tents to help people survive the winter. Oxfam aid worker Lucy Davies traveled with a Sungi team on a delivery mission. Here is her account.
Together with clothes and blankets, shelter is the most important thing survivors of the Oct. 8 earthquake need to make it through the long winter months ahead.
In the temporary camps, tents of all shapes and sizes crowd together, some on mounds of hay to keep out the earth’s cold and dampness. Some of the tents are makeshift affairs tacked onto piles of rubble. Others, pitched in uniform rows, are white and shaped like tunnels. It’s clear that some of these shelters can’t offer adequate protection against the freezing temperatures and snow.
Through a factory in Lahore that is able to provide 700 winterized tents a day, Oxfam has ordered 24,000 of them made with two layers of canvas and an outer fly. Treated with paraffin, aluminum, and copper, the outer layer is waterproof and resistant to rot.
Today, our mission is to distribute 58 of these tents, each of which weighs about 143 pounds. Stockpiled in Oxfam’s warehouse in Abbotabad, the tents have arrived at the Sungi office in Muzzaffarabad where they will become the centerpiece of the winter survival kits Sungi is now distributing. The kits also include blankets, mats, buckets, and a tarp.
After loading the kits onto a truck, we head out to Srinagar, about a 12-mile drive along a road that follows a river through the Jhellum Valley. Dust still rises from recent landslides on the steep-sided hills above the road where whole villages were obliterated.
The truck pulls up by the side of the road near a damaged suspension bridge. Now impassable for vehicles, this broken bridge speaks to the isolation of the villagers stranded high in the hills. Men have walked down from those communities and crossed the bridge on foot to pick up the tents and take them home.
Having done an earlier assessment in the area, Sungi staffers know what relief items people now need. Sungi’s Sajjeed Khan calls out the names of people, and one by one they come forward to pick up the goods.
"The important aspect of our work is that we return to the communities to make sure that the people have received their kits," says Sajjeed. "Especially the women, who don’t walk down to collect the items."
Umar Din from the village of Sitbahl is one of those who has come for a kit.
"Since the earthquake, we have lived under the open sky, with only the clothes on our backs," he says. "All our houses have been destroyed and four of my children have died--three sons and one daughter."
Most of the beneficiaries we interview tell the same story. They have lived without any shelter since the earthquake and are relieved to be taking the winter kits back to their villages.
Still, a great deal of work remains to be done to help people survive the winter in these remote villages. Some of the men tell us that the next problem they face is whether they will have enough food to feed their families.
"Please, we need more help," says Umar.
