Gimme shelter

As winter hits the mountains of Kashmir, an engineer from South Wales has been working around the clock to get sample shelters designed and built.

Abergavenny man Andy Cox is working as shelter engineer for Irish humanitarian organisation GOAL.

“We aim to save lives by creating one warm room for the vulnerable,” he said. “The people want to remain on or near their homesteads for the duration of the winter, and we want to facilitate this. Otherwise we will face a situation where families stream downhill when the extreme cold sets in. They will be crammed into camps and settlements, where the disease and other social issues will be extremely difficult to counteract.”

GOAL is constructing twenty sample shelters for vulnerable beneficiaries across its area of operation in Bagh district in Pakistani Kashmir and will then provide material in the form of corrugated iron sheeting, washers and nails.

Locals will construct their own temporary winter shelter using materials supplied and recycled timber and tin from fallen homes, based on the GOAL samples.

Beneficiaries – 7500 families in all - have already received plastic sheeting for use as insulation material and flooring. These complement winter tents and blankets as part of an overall shelter survival package for Kashmiris this winter.

Sample shelters are placed in visible and accessible locations in advance of the GOAL distribution of shelter materials. Hundreds of timber frames have been built by Kashmiris before the CGI arrives.

Shelter specialist Cox said: “People can use hay as insulation between a sandwich of plastic sheeting and tin sheeting. Otherwise it will just be too cold for people here – especially the very young and the elderly.”

Maruf Hussein Shah is a disabled father of four, and was the first recipient of a GOAL sample shelter. He expressed his gratitude to GOAL for the shelter.

“I thank you for this shelter. My family thanks you. God willing we will be fine for this winter.”

Andy Cox is a self-employed engineering consultant, on a short-term contract with GOAL and has been here for one month. He has worked in Pakistan for five years over the years. He is married with three children. Speaking about the challenges of working in a disaster zone, Cox said: “It is a privilege to be able to help here after the earthquake. Working for GOAL means that I can apply my skills directly and effectively. Given the destruction and loss of livelihoods here, the challenge is to match cost-effectiveness with utility, based on what is logistically possible here in a short timeframe.”

International humanitarian organization GOAL is working in the Pakistani Azad Jammu and Kashmir, in the city district of Bagh. GOAL is distributing food and shelter materials to 7500 families, mostly at high altitude. GOAL is seeking engineers for its global humanitarian relief operations.