ISLAMABAD, June 15: The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the government of Pakistan have agreed on a joint programme of assistance in quake-affected areas of Azad Kashmir and the NWFP.

WFP Country Director in Pakistan Michael Jones and Ismael Qureshi, secretary, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard here on Thursday.

The programme is to be implemented over a period of two years and it will benefit about 948,500 people in the mountainous terrain of Bagh, Neelum and Muzaffarabad districts in Azad Kashmir and in Battagram, Mansehra, Shargla and Kohistan districts in the NWFP.

The programme is part of the overall United Nations- Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) early recovery plan.

Overall guidance will remain with Erra and the ministries and provincial departments concerned will support through coordination and technical inputs.

The objectives of the operation are to protect livelihood in crisis and enhance resilience to shocks by meeting the temporary needs of the homeless by providing them with marketable skills, tools and equipment, improved nutrition and health of children, mothers and other vulnerable people by increasing the availability of locally-produced and fortified wheat flour.