Saturday, October 15 2005 11:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: With thousands of people in quake-hit areas of Jammu and Kashmir still living in the open, the NHRC yesterday (Oct 14, 2005) asked the Government to immediately make arrangements to provide shelter to them as winter has set in.

A team of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which paid a three-day visit to the affected areas to assess the situation, also recommended that a computerised list of orphaned children, widows and affected girls be prepared so that they were not exploited.

The team, comprising Director General (Investigation) G S Rajagopal, Registrar (Law) Ajit Bharihoke and Deputy Registrar (Law) A K Parashar, commended the Centre, the state Government, security forces and civil society for rising to the occasion to provide some immediate relief to the affected persons, NHRC said in a statement here.

But if shelters are not provided immediately, exposure to cold posed a danger to the lives of children and people with weak constitution, the team, which returned on Thursday, said.

The rights body asked the Government to ensure that building material for repairing damaged property is made available in affected areas before access to them is closed due to winter.

The Government should also consider the feasibility of constructing houses with pre-fabricated material, it said.

As the number of tents available is less than that required, temporary shelters should be built for the quake-hit which would function till the buildings damaged or destroyed are rebuilt, the NHRC said.