IOM has completed construction of 1,200 transitional homes in
Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, for
survivors of the October 2005 earthquake.

The project, which was funded by the Swedish International
Development Agency (Sida) and completed in close cooperation with
Pakistan's Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority
(ERRA) and the Development Authority Muzaffarabad (DAM), will
provide shelter for some 6,200 people affected by the disaster.

"This project, which began in April 2007, targets the most
vulnerable sections of the urban affected population. Some 260 of
the houses are reserved for female-headed households and other
vulnerable families identified by the DAM," says IOM Regional
Representative for West Asia Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa.

Swedish Ambassador to Pakistan Anna Karin Enestrom, who with
other dignitaries attended a completion ceremony in Muzaffarabad
this week, congratulated IOM, ERRA and DAM on the successful
implementation of the project. "I would like to say how pleased I
am to see that we have been able to contribute to alleviating the
suffering you went through following the earthquake," she told
beneficiaries.

Construction of the Sida-funded transitional housing in
Muzaffarabad follows earlier IOM projects in the city funded by the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to clear
some 8 million cubic feet of rubble and build a memorial park.

Muzaffarabad was close to the epicentre of the October 2005
quake, Pakistan's worst ever natural disaster, which left some
75,000 people dead and 3.5 million homeless.

For further information, please contact:

Maha Qazi

IOM Islamabad

Tel:  +92.300.8526599

E-mail: "mailto:mqazi@iom.int">mqazi@iom.int