Rains force Pakistani quake survivors to flee

ISLAMABAD, Aug 4 (Reuters) Landslides and flash floods caused by torrential rains in Pakistan have forced some 6,000 survivors of last year's devastating earthquake to seek fresh refuge in camps, the U.N.

refugee agency today said.

Scores of people have died due to heavy rain in the past two weeks in areas stretching from the southern port city of Karachi and the high northern mountains.

But people living in the quake zone in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-occupied Kashmir are particularly vulnerable, officials said.

Yesterday, 16 people were killed in the Shinkiari area of Mansehra district of NWFP because of landslides and floods.

''We are expecting some 20,000 survivors in the quake affected areas in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and NWFP to be displaced because of rains and to seek refugee this monsoon season,'' said Fatma Bassiouni, spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNCHR) earthquake response unit.

''We are coordinating with the Pakistan agencies for this second wave of quake refugees in camps and to be prepared for this relocation,'' she said.

There are already some 30,000 survivors of the quake still living in camps who have not been able to return to their villages due to various reasons, Bassiouni said. The number living in tent camps had been around 200,000 after the quake.

Last October's 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed more than 75,000 people and left over three million homeless.

Landslides since last week have disrupted transport links in the Neelum Valley in Kashmir and between Mansehra and Balakot in NWFP, making it difficult to move people to safer locations.

''We have even requested donors to provide two helicopters to transport aid to people trapped in the mountains due to monsoon rains or blocked roads,'' Bassiouni said.

The head of the geological survey in Islamabad said last October's quake had made the mountain slopes very unstable.

''The quake has left cracks in the mountains and the rain water seeps in and creates near perfect conditions for triggering landslides and mudslides,'' said Allah Baksh Kausar.

''A number of refugee tent villages are located in highly dangerous positions in river valleys vulnerable to landslides and need to be moved. Large numbers of people are living on and beneath these slopes. The potential for loss of life is high.'' REUTERS SY PC1456