IOM has handed over the first 20 of 145 transitional houses in the
Muzaffarabad district of Pakistan-administered Kashmir earmarked
for extremely vulnerable families made homeless by the October 2005
earthquake.

The families, who were previously living in camps, were
identified by the Development Authority of Muzaffarabad and Camp
Management Organization and include people with serious medical
conditions, mental/physical handicaps, elderly and female-headed
households and orphans.

To date, IOM has completed 890 of 1,200 transitional homes
planned for earthquake survivors in Muzaffarabad funded by the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida.) The
remaining 310 homes are expected to be completed by June 2008.

The houses, approved by Pakistan's Earthquake Reconstruction and
Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), are earthquake-resistant, mobile
and designed to be used for 3-5 years.

"When the occupants are eventually allocated permanent land by
the government, the structures will be dismantled, relocated and
reassembled," says IOM Regional Representative for West and Central
Asia Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa.

"This Sida-funded project is playing a very important role in
providing protection for extremely vulnerable people when they
leave the camps where they have lived for the past two and a half
years," he adds.

The October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and
North West Frontier Province measured 7.6 on the Richter scale.
Some 75,000 people died and 3.5 million were left homeless.

For further information, please contact:

Maha Qazi

IOM Islamabad

Tel: +92.300.8526599

E-mail: "mailto:mqazi@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">mqazi@iom.int