June 28, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 1, 1427

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MUZAFFARABAD, June 27: The authorities have expedited their efforts to relocate over 1,300 families whose houses are exposed to landslides feared to be triggered by the monsoon rains, officials said here on Tuesday.

“We have expedited our preparations and within two to three days we will start evacuating these people to the camps we have organised for them,” said Raja Abbas, additional commissioner camps management organisation (CMO).

Most of the vulnerable families were initially reluctant to vacate their ancestral lands but they had changed their mind after the onset of fierce rainy spell, he told Dawn.

According to local met office, Muzaffarabad received 50 mm and 14 mm rainfall, respectively, in the wee hours of Monday and Tuesday.

“Obviously now we will be having more rains, almost daily,” met office observer Tanvir Satti said as rains resumed in the capital in the afternoon.

Mr Abbas said the CMO with the help of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organisation of Migration, World Food Programme and some other NGOs had launched a campaign to convince and encourage the villagers to cooperate in the process of relocation.

He told that at least 23 villages were facing the threat of landslides in tehsil Muzaffarabad and around 10 in the neighbouring tehsil Hattian Bala.

“Most of these areas are located on mountain slopes or in the foothills of mountains which have developed wide cracks and can further slide once the rains pick up momentum,” he said.

“So far there are 1,054 families comprising 6,352 individuals in these (23) villages,” he said, but added that the number of vulnerable families could swell as several other families were approaching the CMO for relocations.

Dr Shahla Waqar, another additional commissioner, said that the vulnerable villages in Hattian Bala had been identified by district administration officials.