March 21, 2006	Tuesday	Safar 20, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, March 20: USAID in collaboration with Save the Children has helped more than 4,000 residents of Mehra Relief Camp return to their villages since March 10. They facilitated these journeys by rebuilding infrastructure in mountain communities and by providing shelter and household kits worth over $200 each to equip villagers for life back home.

Over 16,000 displaced people were living in the Mehra Relief Camp.

According to a statement issued here on Monday, USAID-funded programmes undertook rebuilding of villages by involving villagers in the process.

Cash-for-work programmes helped rebuilt mountain paths back to the villages and taught women vocational skills like sewing and stove-building that might come handy in their post-quake lives.

Such programmes also helped residents earn income for household needs. A community barn at the camp helped villages maintain their livestock till they returned home. Now the USAID was helping to establish schools in camp dwellers’ home villages so their children could continue their education.

“It was too cold to stay up in the mountains before,” said Bakhmareen, a resident of Gudlai village. “Now it’s warmer, so we can put up a tent, while we try to restart our lives,” he said while standing in front of a van loaded with his USAID-supplied shelter and household kits.

The household kit included kitchenware, a stove, a lantern, shoes and cloth, while each shelter kit includes a pick axe, a spade, a hammer, a handsaw and plastic sheets to build a transitional shelter. Besides, each family would get one month’s food supply provided by the military, which included flour, lentils, oil, and rice. The army was also providing one blanket to each family member, and local government was arranging free travel to the villages.

The assistance provided would enable people to return to their villages with needed resources to help them reestablish their homes and livelihoods before the next winter.