SAPPER John Howarth is helping to build winter shelters to provide health and education for survivors of the Pakistan earthquake.

John is based in the town of Bagh in the Kashmir province alongside colleagues from the 59 Independent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers. Their mission is to build shelters in isolated mountain villages before the harsh Kashmiri winter sets in.

John (26) said: "Some of the villages we have been to have been devastated, but the locals are showing real initiative in building their own winter shelters.

"This is a unique situation, to combine our commando training with our engineering skills in an international relief operation. Christmas is coming and we are a long way from home, but when you see the conditions of some of the villages we have visited you realise what a worthwhile job we are doing."

John, a former Philips High School pupil who lives in Whitefield, joined the Royal Engineers in 2001 and went on to successfully complete the renowned Commando Course in 2003.

As an Army commando he is trained to live and work in winter and mountain conditions and his training is coming to good use as he and the rest of the troops spend four nights at a time in freezing temperatures at 7,500ft constructing the shelters.

The men and materials are being transported up narrow mountain tracks with the use of multi-terrain vehicles usually used in arctic Norway, but some villages are so inaccessible that the engineers have been dropped in by helicopters or made it on foot.