wfn.org | CWS In Pakistan Urges Action Against Tent Fires Among Homeless

["Lesley Crosson" <lcrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

Media Contacts: Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, (212) 870-2676, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7- (781) 925 1526; jdragin@gis.n

NEWS UPDATE

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE IN PAKISTAN URGES NGO COLLABORATION TO PREVENT TENT
FIRES AMONG HOMELESS QUAKE SURVIVORS

Many Have Never Lived in Tents and Aren't Being Instructed in Fire Safety,
Says NGO

ISLAMABAD * Mon Nov 28 * As cold, heavy rains and snow shut down helicopter relief Sunday for Pakistan's earthquake survivors, hundreds of thousands
are still without shelter. But humanitarian agency Church World Service's
Marvin Parvez says while many more tents are needed in the race against
winter, tents are not the only answer and fire hazards are posing serious
concerns.

Parvez is Pakistan-Afghanistan Regional Director for international
humanitarian agency Church World Service. From Islamabad today, Parvez
said, "Our aid teams have already seen fire in a tent in Balakot.  And in
Maiddan, two children died tragically in the past few days from a tent
fire and others have been injured." The village of Maiddan, 160 km north
of Islamabad, was destroyed in the quake.

Parvez said, "As we're traveling throughout the affected areas, we see
thousands of tents and more going up. We're calling on our colleagues in
the aid community to help address this two- edged sword of Pakistan's
earthquake survivors seeking shelter in tents.	Many of the emergency
tents aren't winterized, so people are lighting fires inside to keep
warm," he said.

"Of course we're all working night and day to provide as quickly as we can
whatever temporary shelter we can get from governments' and aid organizations' contributions, " Parvez noted. "But we're highly concerned for
people's safety in tent environments. Many of these survivors have never
lived in tents, have no knowledge of the fire hazards facing them, and
they're not being given basic fire prevention instructions or any kind of
fire extinguishing equipment," said Parvez. "It only takes one candle."

Parvez says Church World Service is urging all non-governmental agencies
(NGOs) responding in Pakistan "to work together to at least give the
survivors basic safety instructions." With offices throughout Pakistan,
CWS is chair of the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum.

>From its offices in Washington, CWS Emergency Response Program Director
Donna J. Derr said "There are no hand-held fire extinguishers in the
affected areas, as are available for commercial and household use in some
other countries.

"For extreme and complex disaster sites in frigid climates like Northern
Kashmir," she said, "certain basic fire-extinguishing aids should be as
much a part of tent or shelter supplies as the heating equipment that's
also now needed to protect Pakistan's vulnerable survivors from winter's
killing cold."
Derr said CWS is pursuing additional resources for alternative shelter
options and additional heating equipment and for solutions to the fire
hazard concerns.

"In addition to the fire hazards, the demand for winterized tents is
bigger than the supplies available," CWS's Parvez said. "For those
reasons, Church World Service also began providing alternative shelter
materials early on in the rescue and recovery mission."

"There are no perfect solutions and none seem quick enough or in sufficient quantity to accomplish the unprecedented task at hand," Parvez said,
eyeing the descending Himalayan winter. Up to 8 inches of snow fell Sunday
in some higher Himalayan elevations.

On November 5, CWS and its partners Finnchurchaid, Norwegian Church Aid
and Great Britain's Christian Aid distributed a donation from Finland's
Ministry of the Interior of enough winterized tents and heaters to shelter
15,000 people, along with blankets and sweaters.

The Pakistan government, CWS, its partner INGOs and other responders are
turning to providing corrugated tin sheeting to survivors* some of which
is confiscated from the roofs of mud brick homes that are otherwise rubble
following the massive quake. The metal sheeting is fireproof and can
withstand strong winds.

According to an Associated Press report on Saturday, Pakistan relief
director Maj. Gen. Farooq Ahmed Khan said troops, volunteers and aid
groups are helping survivors who have stayed in mountain villages to build
at least one room from the rubble of their homes then pitch tents
nearby.

"We still have a long way to go," says Parvez.

United Nations relief coordinator Jan Vandermortele said the UN and other
agencies have so far received less than half of the $550 million urgently
requested for food, shelter and health care, according to a November 26 AP
report.

Visiting the damaged region over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, actress
Angelina Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees, saw the survivors' plight firsthand and asked world donors to
quickly deliver on their aid pledges.

 "The pledges need to materialize soon," Jolie told AP. "From what I'm
understanding, there are so many wonderful pledges of money that could
come in the next few years, but this winter is in the next few weeks, and
so many people are in danger of possibly freezing to death.''

"Now, with snow and freezing rain already falling," says Parvez, "canvas
tents are wet and offer even less protection from the cold. How will
families keep warm if they can't light a fire? "

EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE: Please include in your listings of responding
agencies:
Contributions to support earthquake survivors can be sent to: Church World
Service
Southern Asia Earthquake --#6979, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.
Contributions can also be made online, or by calling 800.297.1516, ext.
222.

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