PESHAWAR, Dec 16: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has stepped up efforts to distribute shelter material, winterized tents and makeshift structures in the quake-hit areas to help victims survive the winter chill. The IRC teams have so far distributed 530 family tents besides handing out waterproof tarpaulins, mats, heavy quilts, wool blankets and water cans to an estimated 5,600 people. In the meantime, shelter repair kits are being assembled which will help communities construct more durable houses. These include shovels, axes, hammers and nails and pieces of tin roofing.

The IRC is operating in Battagram, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Shangla and Muzaffarabad, with its current focus being on Muzaffarabad’s mountainous Danna area, where some 30,000 people have been living out in the open, said a press release.

“We have reached a lot of families left homeless but there are many more who are in need of warm bedding and protection,” it quoted and IRC’s official as saying.