British royals visit Pakistani quake survivors

PATTIKA, Pakistan, Nov 1 (Reuters) Britain's Prince Charles visited a village in Pakistani Kashmir today where more than 1,600 people died in an earthquake a little over a year ago.

Overall the quake killed more than 73,000 people in Pakistani Kashmir and North West Frontier Province, another 1,500 in Indian Kashmir, and left more than 3 million homeless.

Accompanied by his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, the prince visited a health clinic run by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Pattika, a village in the Neelam valley a few miles east of Muzaffarabad, the ruined regional capital.

''You've got a nice son,'' Camilla told Nageena Bibi, as the village woman cradled her eight-month-old boy.

''I told her that everything was destroyed and God has saved us,'' Bibi said.

Charles, who is president of Britain's Red Cross, squatted to chat with a group of villagers being taught how to better look after their livestock.

The royal couple showed plenty of interest in horses being cared for at a veterinary hospital set up by a British animal welfare organisation, the Brooke Hospital for Animals.

While they were there, it was announced that Camilla had accepted the presidency of the Brooke, which specialises in caring for horses and donkeys in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan and India.

The royal visit is aimed at forging goodwill in a country where most of Britain's Muslim minority have relatives, many of them in Kashmir. The couple's five-day visit ends on Friday.

REUTERS SP BS1938