QUETTA, Nov 8: The Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) has offered to build shelters in earthquake-hit areas in Balochistan, but it has so far not been given any responsibility, according to deputy chairman Erra Lt-Gen Sajjad Akram.

Gen Akram told a press conference here on Saturday after a meeting with Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani that he had visited the affected areas in Ziarat and briefed the chief minister and other officials about the reconstruction plan.

Lt-Gen Akram said that a two-bedroom house could be built over 400 square feet, costing about Rs300,000. The house would include a bath, kitchen and a small courtyard.

He said that the quake had hit a ‘limited area’ and the devastation did not match that of the 2005 tragedy in Azad Kashmir and the NFWP. He said that Erra had also shown a model of a temporary shelter to the provincial authorities.

He said that he was visiting Balochistan’s quake-hit areas on the directives of the prime minister. He said that so far Erra had not been given any responsibility in Balochistan and it was working in Azad Kashmir and on some projects in Punjab.

Referring to the reconstruction work in Azad Kashmir and the NWFP, he said that Rs61 billion had so far been paid to survivors, adding that Erra was working on 12 other projects, costing Rs42 billion. “Reconstruction of individual houses in suburbs will be completed in Azad Kashmir by 2011 while work in cities will take at least two more years.”

He said that he had advised losses assessment teams to determine the needs of widows and orphans. He said that Erra had sent relief goods, including 700 tents, 500 blankets and 2,700 sleeping bags, for the quake-stricken people of Balochistan.