ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has reported an upsurge in acute respiratory infections (ARIs) in the quake-hit areas, as the cold spell continues to make relief activities more challenging.

“One of the Red Cross and Red Crescent mobile health units in the Allai Valley has reported a 30 per cent increase in patients this winter,” a senior IFRC official John Tulloch told this reporter here.

He said recently the numbers had gone up to 1,000 patients per week. He said there were so many respiratory cases that the unit had run out of medicine and had to restock. He said the International Federation and the Pakistan Red Crescent hoped to complete the winter assistance distributions in early February.

Thousands of kilos of relief items are being airlifted by the Red Cross and Red Crescent high into the snow-laden mountains of northern Pakistan to assist the quake-affected communities in extremely remote locations.

Using the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) helicopters, the International Federation and the Pakistan Red Crescent are in the midst of a three-week operation shifting 166,000 kilos of materials to locations in the North West Frontier Province’s Allai Valley.

The helicopter operations are part of a wider operation to assist 13,500 families across the North West Frontier Province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir as cold temperatures and snowy conditions persist.

The UNHAS helicopters are essential to get relief items such as corrugated galvanised iron sheets, shelter repair kits, tarpaulins and quilts into the locations that cannot be reached by road. The three areas in the Allai Valley, where the choppers are making deliveries, would take two-to-three hours of lung-busting hiking to reach by foot.

Some of the chopper loads are being delivered by sling. Up to 3,500 kilos encased in a net dangle underneath the helicopter and are transported from a base in Muzaffarabad to the various locations.

This method enables the UNHAS Kamov choppers to drop their load without landing and return to base, speeding up the number of rotations possible. However, flying at high altitude and delivering loads to small drop zones surrounded by huge mountains demands extremely precise skills and steady nerves from the pilots.

Pakistan Red Crescent Field Officer, Irfan Hameed, is supervising the copter operations on the ground. He and his team hike to the drop zones, and organise unloading and distribution. He admits working in knee-deep snow, in the midst of a Himalayan winter, is challenging.

Tulloch said in the more remote locations there is a shortage of fuel, such as wood to burn to keep warm, and people rely on staying indoors and huddling under quilts to ward off the bitter cold.

Each family targeted by the Red Cross and Red Crescent receives four quilts, resulting in a total distribution of 40,000 over the coming weeks.

With many affected people still to complete reconstruction of their homes, the corrugated galvanized iron sheets are being used to improve temporary shelters. He said communities had told the International Federation that the sheets were more useful to them than the tents due to their durability and the fact they can use them in so many ways.

John Tulloch said the Red Cross and Red Crescent continued to provide a range of assistance to the quake-affected communities in areas such as health, water and sanitation, livelihoods and reconstruction as part of an operation which will continue until the end of 2008.