Heavy monsoon rains during last two days have brought more misery
to the survivors of last year’s earthquake in northern
Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.



Fourteen people were buried in landslides in Muzaffarabad and Garhi
Habibullah yesterday and others have been injured in flash floods
and when weakened houses collapsed in other quake-affected areas.




“Bagh city was also cut off yesterday due to flooding and a
number of people living near water courses were injured,”
says Arshad Raheed, head of the IOM sub-office in Bagh.



Concern is now rising that more people may have to be evacuated
from areas destabilized by the earthquake and at risk from the
heavy rainfall.



IOM, funded by UNHCR, has already completed the evacuation of 1,740
people from so-called “red zones” in Muzaffarabad
tehsil.



But the recent deaths in Muzaffarabad and Garhi Habibullah were in
a spontaneous tent settlement on a mountainside, not in a
designated red zone.



“The authorities in Muzaffarabad are now considering
undertaking another survey to identify more landslide-prone areas
during the rains,” says Jadranko Bjelica, head of the IOM
sub-office in Muzaffarabad.



The Pakistan Meteorological Department predicts more heavy rain in
the Hazara division of NWFP and Pakistan-administered Kashmir in
the coming days.



For more information, please contact:



Saleem Rehmat

IOM Islamabad

Tel.: +92 300 8565967

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