Friday, December 02, 2005

Send them some TENTS--Kashmiri earthquake update

This is unacceptable: it's been almost 2 months since the earthquake in Kashmir and they still don't have enough winter-tents. Forget "enough"; they don't even have 10% of what they need to make it through the winter! From the AP/Guardian UK: {emphasis mine}
A senior UN official warned today that 90% of the tents given to earthquake survivors in Pakistan are not equipped for the harsh Himalayan winter. Darren Boisvert, the official in charge of distributing shelter in the quake-hit areas, said the tents have not been "winterised". Nearly 420,000 tents have already been given out to survivors, but only 5,000 are fully "winterised", he said. Temperatures in the mountainous regions of Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province have already dropped below freezing and snow has been falling in many areas. Heavier snowstorms are expected over the next few weeks.
Mr Boisvert said that after the earthquake struck on October 8, hundreds of aid organisations brought in thousands of tents to provide shelter, but most of those tents were not adequate for winter use. "Winterised tents are expensive, they are hard to procure, and must be shipped from overseas," he said.

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