June 18, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1427

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RAWALPINDI, June 17: About 8,000 families affected by last October’s earthquake in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP will be able to reconstruct their livelihoods under a $29.6 million project for the Reconstruction of Earthquake-Affected Communities and Households (REACH).

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has approved a loan of $26.4 million through which 8,000 families would receive financial and technical support to rebuild their houses and buy livestock through the project in northern Pakistan.

About 80 per cent of families lost their houses in the project area of Azad Kashmir, and in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). Most of the REACH funds, more than $20 million, will be invested in restoring houses or rebuilding new ones.

The loan agreement for the $29.6 million project for the Restoration of Earthquake-Affected Communities and Households (REACH) was signed on June 14 at IFAD headquarters in Rome by the President of IFAD, Lennart Bege, and the Ambassador of Pakistan to Italy Mirza Qamar Beg.

“There is an urgent need to follow up on the massive relief effort with major investments to rebuild poor people’s livelihoods,” said Bege.

“Many villages that were already poor before the earthquake are now extremely vulnerable. REACH is key to enable rural communities to re-establish the basis for productive lives.”

About $3 million of the project funds will be allocated to help families buy livestock. Many buffaloes and cows, normally a major source of income in poor rural communities, were killed by falling buildings. In addition, roads and bridges will be rebuilt in the remote mountainous areas to restore access to services and markets. IFAD was one of the few major donors with significant ongoing community-based development projects in the disaster area prior to the earthquake.

Following the earthquake, IFAD projects, in particular the Community Development Programme in Azad Kashmir, were a source of information and logistical support to the relief operations.

The REACH project is likely to generate positive economic benefits by increasing household incomes and re-starting economic activity in affected communities.