controlled portion. Winter's approach has begun to hamper relief operations to the region's more remote areas, reachable only by helicopter and only in good weather. On bad days, mules are often the only way to get in. Muzaffarabad's skies were cloudy Saturday, but relief helicopters were flying. Pakistani soldiers are building 5,000 shelters a day. Aid workers say that most of the hundreds of thousands of tents that have already been distributed cannot give quake survivors adequate protection against the cold, and that sturdier corrugated iron shelters should be used. The army has constructed about 30,000 such shelters. Officials said they are also especially worried that hundreds of thousands of people who live at the higher elevations may be forced to come down to refugee camps as winter wears on, creating crowded conditions and possibly sanitation problems. Darren Boisvert, spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said 5,000 tents that are adequate for winter have been distributed to those above the snow line, and another 5,000 will be handed out by Dec. 12. He acknowledged that officials are not certain how many people will need emergency help due the remoteness of some stricken areas, and are assessing the scale of damage. "We are working from the top down," he said Friday at a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital. Jan Vandemoortele, the U.N.'s top aid coordinator in Pakistan, said "colossal job" remains. Vandemoortele said many villagers are choosing to stay put despite the hardships, and that no one will be forced to leave their homes. But as the weather deteriorates, more people are expected to flow into the camps, he said. "We remain on a knife's edge," he said. "It may get worse before it gets better."
