According to WWF-P's spokesman here on Wednesday, shelter was the primary need of the earthquake-stricken people at this stage, as over 90 percent of houses had been demolished or severely damaged by the quake, forcing people to live out in the open.
Although, small proportion of people had been provided tents, but it did not adequately meet the needs of the people. Unfortunately, many of these tents were not adequately winterised and could not adequately protect the alpine people from the adverse weather conditions, he added.
It was imperative that the relief providers make arrangements for providing the alpine people with housing that was more suited to the harsh winter conditions prevalent in these ecological zones, and at the same time avoid putting pressure on the forest resources.
It was estimated that pressure on the forest and forest products would escalate three fold if the population of the alpine region was forced to use the forest resources for creating shelter.
To mitigate the situation, the WWF-P has formed a partnership with UN-Habitat to develop shelters that minimise the use of forest resources in their construction and, in so doing, to reduce the ecological pressure on forests.