Pakistan to evacuate "high risk" areas in quake zone

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan, May 2 (Reuters) Pakistani authorities are preparing to evacuate thousands of survivors of last year's earthquake amid risks their mountain villages may be washed away by the coming rains, officials said today.

The United Nations has said thed rains are one of the major challenges for aid agencies as many roads would be blocked by landslides, complicating problems for survivors living in remote mountain areas.

Officials said they were preparing plans to relocate around 2,000 families from 22 villages which have been declared by geologists as highly vulnerable to monsoon rains beginning in July.

Most of these areas are located near Muzaffarabad, the devastated capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir, said Ejaz Ahmed Khan, a senior government official in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

More than 73,000 people were killed and around three million made homeless in the Oct. 8 earthquake, one of the worst disasters to hit Pakistan in its 57-year history.

REUTERS CH ND2018