GILGIT, July 7: The Austrian Alpine Club and another non-governmental organization of the European country have launched rehabilitation projects for the earthquake victims in the area around the Nanga Parbat.

Austrian social worker Waltraud Torossian Brigasky told newsmen here that the relief project had been launched in memory of Hermann Buhl, an Austrian mountaineer who scaled the Nanga Parbat for the first time on July 3, 1953.

“Two dreadful earthquakes in November 2002, followed by a series of aftershocks, struck at a time when the climbing community represented by the Austrian, German and Pakistan alpine clubs were ready to celebrate the first ascent of the Nanga Parbat,” she said.

She said she had visited the affected areas of Tatu and Muthaut.

She said the NGO planned to build a school, a healthcare centre, a mosque and a community centre to help the people once they returned to their area.

She said the building of an ‘Austrian village’ to be named after Hermann Buhl was being contemplated to resettle the local population. She said condition of pony tracks and unpaved roads to Tatu was very bad and their improvement was essential to help the people.

She said the project would be jointly supervised by two honorary boards — an Austro-Pakistan mountaineers’ committee and one comprising professionals from politics, business, science and arts from different countries.