[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
ISLAMABAD, 17 January (IRIN) - In a bid to prepare relief workers operating in Pakistan's quake-hit north, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is set to begin training humanitarian staff on working under conditions of extreme cold.
"Hundreds of national and international humanitarian staff have been working in what has become the largest winter emergency operation ever," Ann Kristin Brunborg, manager of the NRC's quake relief operation in Pakistan, said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Monday. "In difficult mountains at altitudes above 1,500 metres with snow depth over 1 m, and where frequent aftershocks are increasing the risk of avalanches, such conditions necessitate training about such winter risks."
"In order to prevent illness amongst aid workers and fatal accidents in the mountains, the NRC has planned a month-long training programme for which a team of experienced mountaineers has been flown in from Norway," she added.
Starting from the Allai Valley of Battagram district in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP), humanitarian workers from national and international organisations deployed across the earthquake-affected areas of NWFP and Pakistani-administered Kashmir will receive training.
More than 80,000 people were killed on 8 October after a powerful quake of 7.6 magnitude ripped through parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir and NWFP, rendering over 3.5 million homeless just weeks before the start of the harsh Himalayan winter.
When humanitarian workers are struggling to better equip thousands of survivors against bad weather, many aid workers have little or no experience on how to handle winter conditions, but the survival of earthquake victims requires the continued presence of humanitarian workers in the mountains during winter, Brunborg explained.
"Even as the snow falls today we have NRC Emergency Shelter Construction Teams working with villagers at high altitudes. The risk of avalanches, isolation of field teams after heavy snow and illness due to cold climate is very real," the manager of the NRC's quake relief operation said.
The work must go on, but the workers should be safe. A dead or injured relief worker cannot help anyone, so we must ensure the relief community has adequate winter skills, she noted.
During the month-long programme, a team of six Norwegian mountaineering experts would train the cross-cluster workers from shelter, health, food, water and sanitation programmes.
The NRC to date has distributed winterised tents and stoves to over 70,000 quake survivors. The agency is further focusing on distribution of charcoal, blankets, quilts, food and self-build shelter kits to remote areas above 1,500 m.
According to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Jan Vandemootele, nearly 2 million quake survivors were still living in tents below the snowline, about 250,000 in organised camps, while another 400,000 were living in temporary shelters constructed at higher altitude.
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