ISLAMABAD: Saudi Public Assistance for Pakistan Earthquake Victims (SPAPEV) will provide transitional shelters for 1000 displaced families, affected by the 2005 devastating earthquake in Azad Kashmir. According to a press release issued here on Wednesday, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Pakistan will receive US$5.1 million from SPAPEV to provide transitional shelters for 1000 earthquake-displaced families in Azad Kashmir.

The agreement will ensure that families who have yet to secure land for permanent housing will be provided with transitional homes, said IOM Regional Representative for West and Central Asia, Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa. The Saudi-funded project will import pre-fabricated houses from China to house 1000 families in Muzaffarabad and Bagh, worst affected by the 2005 earthquake. IOM is already constructing 1200 medium-term shelters in Muzaffarabad with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The Sida-funded shelters, approved by Pakistan’s Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) are earthquake resistant and mobile.“When the occupants are eventually allocated permanent land by the government, the structures will be dismantled, relocated and reassembled,” said Mostafa.-SANA