Tremor felt in Pakistan's Balakot year after quake

ISLAMABAD, Sep 29 (Reuters) Balakot, a Pakistani town devastated in an earthquake that killed more than 73,000 almost exactly a year ago, felt a slight tremor today, but there were no reports of casualties, meteorological officials said.

The epicentre of today's tremor, measured at 4.2, lay 200 km northeast of Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province.

A 7.6 magnitude earthquake flattened Balakot and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, last October 8.

Around 3.5 million people lost their homes in the towns and villages of the mountainous region. India's side of Kashmir was less severely hit, although around 1,500 people died there too.

A second wave of death was averted because of a massive relief, backed by the international community, as well as an unusually mild winter in the months following earthquake.

Last year, foreign donors and countries pledged over billion for the rehabilitation and reconstruction in the affected region.

Around 3.6 billion dollar were earmarked for relief work and remaining for reconstruction work.

While reconstruction of permanent houses would take several years to complete, officials said the people in the earthquake zone had suitable housing to withstand the coming winter.

''About 90 per cent of the people who are living at the highest points have a mid-term housing solution,'' Lieutenant-General Nadeem Ahmed, deputy head of government's Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority, said.

''In winter, there will be no crisis.'' He said all roads in the affected region were open and all schools were working.

''On March 31, there were over 300,000 people in tents. Now we have just 35,000 people in tents. We have made a lot of progress.'' However, UN officials have warned that another 30,000 people could be displaced in case of harsh winter.

UN officials said Pakistan would take at least 10 years to fully recover from one of the worst disasters in nearly 50 years of its history.

REUTERS PR KP2007