Shelter shortfall dire, one year after Pakistan quake

ISLAMABAD, Oct 3 (Reuters) Close to 400,000 people face a second winter without permanent shelter following last year's earthquake in the mountains and valleys of northern Pakistan, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said today.

The 7.6 earthquake on October 8, 2005, killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistan and 1,500 in Jammu and Kashmir, and rendered more than three million destitute.

''One year after, it is estimated that around 66,000 families are still without permanent shelter, while recent landslides and flooding have also left many quake survivors in a precarious position,'' the federation said in a statement.

Aid agencies reckon that the average family in Pakistan occupied Kashmir and North West Frontier Province has around six members.

Before last winter, relief agencies had feared a second wave of deaths from cold and sickness among survivors living in makeshift shelters and insanitary camps, but the weather was mercifully mild.

While temperatures in the valleys can be only a couple of degrees colder than cities in the plains such as Islamabad and Lahore, they can fall well below freezing in the mountains, where many people live, and snowfall is often several feet deep.

Relief agencies fear the winter won't be as kind for a second year running.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and their local affiliate are planning to run support activities for a million people until at least 2008, but need more funds.

''Compared to emergency relief operations, recovery is significantly more complex and challenging,'' said Khalid Kibriya, Secretary General of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society.

REUTERS LL MIR BST1501