>> SUNGI Development

Off the beaten track

Lucy Davies rides with Oxfam partner organisation Sungi, as they deliver shelter aid to stranded villagers who have been living exposed to the elements ever since disaster struck.

After clothes and blankets, shelter is the single most important priority for keeping people alive in temperatures that are already below zero, and set to drop to minus 15 centigrade in a matter of weeks.

You see tents of all shapes and sizes in the displaced people's camps - from small makeshift affairs tacked onto the back of houses or rubble, through to the white tunnel tents of the UNHCR* laid out in uniform rows. Some of the shelters are quite obviously inadequate for the weather that is about to come.

"Since the earthquake we have lived under the open sky, with only the clothes on our backs. All our houses have been destroyed and four of my children have died, three sons and one daughter."

Oxfam is sourcing a regular supply of tents from a factory in Lahore at a rate of 700 per day. They are khaki-coloured, and are classed as ‘winterised’. In all, Oxfam has ordered 24,000 and we are distributing them every day to hard-hit communities through our partner organisation Sungi.

Today’s distribution involves unloading 58 tents, weighing 65 kilograms each, which have been driven from Oxfam’s warehouse in Abbotabad to Sungi’s office in Muzaffarabad. The tents, and other important items, blankets, buckets, mats and tarpaulin, making up a winter survival kit, are then loaded onto another lorry.

The destination is about 20km along the road to Srinagar, following the river along the Jhellum Valley. Dust still rises from recent landslides in the steep-sided valley above the road, where whole villages were obliterated.

The lorry pulls up by the side of the road near a damaged suspension bridge which vehicles can no longer access, the isolation of the villagers up in the hills made tangible by this solitary, broken bridge. Men have walked down from their villages, crossing the bridge on foot to pick up the tents and take them home.

Umar Din. Credit: Carlo Heathcote / Oxfam.

Umar Din from the village of Sitbahl is one of the men who has come down to pick up a winter kit: "Since the earthquake we have lived under the open sky, with only the clothes on our backs. 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. Some said that the next problem they are facing is lack of food. "Please, we need more help," says Umar.

Sungi staff and community activists conduct assessments in villages most days, collecting information about what people need. The information is recorded, and used to inform how many tents to send to a particular distribution point. When the lorry arrives, Sajjeed Khan from Sungi calls out people’s names, and they come forward to receive their winter kits. This process is happening all over the earthquake area. "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."

The winterised tents that Oxfam is sourcing cost about £200 each, and are a practical, locally-sourced, and cost-effective option. Their quality is better than many of the other tents that you see in the camps. A winterised tent has two layers of canvas, and an outer flysheet. The inside liner is made of cotton, and the outer canvas is treated with paraffin and aluminium to make it waterproof, and a copper substance to stop it rotting. Along the bottom of the outer layer is a rim of blue waterproof tarpaulin which is usually tucked under the floor materials.

The floor of the tent is as important as the sides because when people lie down to go to sleep, they lose body heat quickly if it isn’t insulated properly. This is where the experience of people used to surviving cold winters comes in. When you walk round the camps, you see that tents are often pitched on earth higher than the surrounding ground. To ensure that warmth stays in the tent, people then lay down hay or cut grass, onto which they put a plastic sheet, a Chinese mat made from hollow plastic string, and then their rugs and quilts.

* Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees