Relief, rehabilitation efforts thoroughly reviewed
By Bushra Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Operation ‘Winter Race’ has literally followed a ‘top-down’ strategy. This means that people at higher elevations were first to receive help from the humanitarian community and the Pakistan Army for re-erecting parts of their dwelling, using material recovered from the rubble. As the coverage of the households above 5000ft is nearing completion (assuming iron sheets are being delivered), the Shelter Cluster initiated a rapid assessment to obtain quantitative data and qualitative information on the adequacy of tented shelter for the people living below 5000ft.
The rapid assessment was conducted between 30 November and 5 December 2005. The target groups were the people accommodated in tents outside planned camps below the snowline. The assessment involved some 210 three-person teams of volunteers from eleven international/national humanitarian agencies working in close cooperation with civil authorities and the Federal Relief Commission. It covered areas below 5000ft in the entire earthquake-affected area.
Some 3,004 households living in tents were interviewed, representing an estimated sample of 1.3% of the total families in such accommodation. The households interviewed do not necessarily constitute a representative sample. Although any extrapolation from the small sample must be made with caution, we believe the results give a good indication of the remaining shelter needs of the affected population.
From the collected data, the following can be concluded, about three-quarters of households currently residing in tents below 5000ft outside planned camps require additional support in terms of structural and/or thermal protection; many tent residents will require additional thermal protection. GOP data suggest that 1.3 million blankets are in the pipeline. Normally, a person needs 2 winter-quality blankets or one quilt. Therefore, an additional 2.4 million winter-quality blankets or 1.2 million quilts are urgently needed. Including operational and distribution costs (truck & helicopter), a total of USD 31.0 million will be needed to cover this need. Sufficient quantities of the required quality will not be available through local procurement alone; about 40 per cent of the tents have some form of plastic sheeting. GOP is procuring 300,000 plastic sheets for delivery by the end of December. To supplement this and ensure that sufficient weather-proofing is provided for the entire winter period, some 170,000 additional plastic sheets of international quality will be required particularly for roofing-protection from rain and snow. Each sheet costs approximately USD 16. Including operational and distribution costs (truck & helicopter), a total of USD 4.5 million will be needed; three-quarters of tents are without adequate floor insulation. Without tarpaulins, it will be difficult to keep the temperature inside the tent adequate. Some 200,000 tarpaulins or equivalent plastic sheets are required for floor insulation in addition to those required for roof protection. Each tarpaulin costs approximately USD 35, excluding transport costs. Including operational and distribution costs (truck & helicopter), a total of USD 9.5 million will be needed and an estimated one-tenth of the tents are deemed by their occupants as structurally inadequate; many of them will probably not last the winter. An estimated 30,000 tents will therefore need structural support or will need to be replaced. The good news is that there are already sufficient tents in the pipeline to cover this need. This does not mean that the pipeline is no longer needed; it means that no new tents need to be added to the existing pipeline.