Rising numbers of vulnerable people, including more than 8 million Syrian children, have lost their homes and are currently battling freezing temperatures, violent snowstorms, heavy rains, and ice-cold winds. This season is a real threat to them, and the need for winter assistance has become more urgent than ever.

Ready to produce high volumes

For many years, NRS Relief has helped its clients respond to such challenges and continues to develop innovative products that help protect those most in need during cold weather.  Our dedicated team of multicultural and multilingual experts works round-the-clock to address the real needs faced by beneficiaries and are ready to immediately dispatch winter relief essentials, such as:

• High and Medium Thermal Blankets (UNHCR/ICRC/IFRC Standard)
• Viva Thermal Sleeping Mats (UNHCR/ICRC/IFRC Standard)
• Winterization Kits for Viva Family Tents (UNHCR/ICRC/IFRC Standard)
• Viva Stove (UNHCR/ICRC/IFRC Standard)
• Woven Flexible Tarpaulins (ICRC/IFRC/MSF/Oxfam Standard)
• Reinforced Plastic Tarpaulins (UNHCR Standard)

Even deserts get cold

When you imagine the deserts of Jordan, you might picture blue skies and hot weather regardless of the season. Yet, in the winter, temperatures can get as low as 2C with frost being a common sight along with snow on the highest ground. There can be up to 10 rainy days per month. In Syria last year, snowstorm Salam saw blizzards and temperatures significantly below freezing. For displaced people living in temporary shelters this can be a particularly hard part of the year to get through.

So there are two key priorities at this time:

• To keep the bodies of beneficiaries warm

• To keep temporary shelters warm and protected from the elements

Ensuring personal warmth

Many people arriving in refugee camps have few, if any, possessions. The provision of blankets is particularly important during the winter. These can keep people warm during the day when used as an extra layer of clothing, and are vital at night when both air and body temperatures drop. NRS Relief manufactures both High Thermal Blankets (TOG 4) and Medium Thermal Blankets (TOG 2.5) made from 100% knitted virgin polyester. These are fire resistant and can be washed with minimal shrinkage or weight loss. Last year alone we supplied more than 4.2 million blankets to our clients globally.

Just as an important consideration as blankets is the material that the beneficiary sleeps upon. Whilst ground sheets in tents provide a waterproof barrier from the ground, they are less effective at retaining warmth. The ground will not rise to the temperature of a person, and so it will absorb heat until they are the same temperature as it. This is very dangerous. Our Viva Thermal Sleeping Mat offers insulation through a layer of closed air-filled tubes cells, topped by two additional layers of aluminised canvas and medium thermal blanket.

Heating and protecting shelters

In the winter it is necessary to increase warmth within temporary shelters and to protect them from extreme elements. Extra layers are needed to provide insulation from cold air, and further waterproofing may be required in regions experiencing heavier levels of rain and snow.

To improve the warmth within tents, we offer our Viva™ Winterisation Kits, which are highly recommended to improve the insulation against cold for family tents. Each kit comprises five insulating sleeping mats, one winterization liner, one partition, one heat-resistant chimney sleeve, and five fibrocement sheets that serve as floor protection for a stove or heater inside the tent, such as our Viva™ Stove. This is a simple yet efficient wood-burning stove specifically designed to fit a standard family tent and other shelter structures that have an appropriate chimney opening.

Plastic sheeting is invaluable to weather proof all kinds of structures, whether a family tent or larger buildings and structures damaged by war or natural disaster. We offer both Woven Flexible Tarpaulins and Reinforced Plastic Tarpaulins in both rolls and sheets. These have both been developed by international research projects and designed for extended outdoor use in all climates.

Sharing our expertise

Over the past four decades, NRS Relief has developed an enviable range of core relief products and aid essentials designed to respond to any situation. We fully control our supply chain and manage the entire product development process from manufacturing through to final delivery.

All our products are manufactured by our production partner, H. Sheikh Noor-ud-Din & Sons (HSNDS) in Pakistan,  that employs 7,400 skilled workers. After our products leave the factory, our expert logisticians facilitate the transportation of our products by air, sea and land to wherever they are required, including hard-to-reach destinations, as well as maintaining strategic stocks in Dubai and Lahore.

Share the warmth this winter season. To inquire about the complete list of emergency relief stocks that are currently available for immediate deployment, please contact bdm@nrsinternational-fzco.com.