RAWALPINDI, Oct 27: President General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday ordered immediate release of Rs2 billion for reconstruction of houses in the quake-hit NWFP and Azad Kashmir and asked the authorities concerned to make all-out efforts to provide relief to areas that had not yet been accessed.

He was presiding over the first meeting of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra). The meeting was attended by the AJK president and prime minister and the chief minister of the NWFP.

Taking note of media reports, the president expressed concern that certain people in remote areas had not received any relief goods.

“We must aim at the provision of tents to the shelterless within two weeks to save them from severe cold. It is imperative that we sustain provision of life-saving medicine and succour to the affected.”

Gen Musharraf also directed the governments of AJK and NWFP to quickly disburse compensation among the quake victims. He emphasized the need for creating a comprehensive database about loss of houses, buildings and infrastructure from the district to tehsil and down to the village level.

He asked Erra to formulate a plan and its implementation strategy for construction of houses in cities and towns before next month’s donors’ conference which would be held in Islamabad.

The president stressed that the country should have its own well-equipped and thoroughly trained rescue teams and institutionalized rescue arrangement.

Briefing the meeting, Erra chief Lt-Gen Muhammad Zubair said the authority would prioritize reconstruction of community infrastructure such as houses, schools, hospitals, public health units, water and sanitation systems and government buildings.

He said the focus would be on execution of a well-coordinated reconstruction plan on fast-track basis so that affected people were rehabilitated at the earliest and employment opportunities were in place for them to avert a large-scale migration and dislocation.

He said that reconstruction would be carried out on modern lines to ensure quake-proof infrastructure.

Later, press secretary to the president Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said the meeting noted that the pledges made at the donors’ conference in Geneva on Wednesday were for immediate relief operations.

He said the government would determine the overall financial cost of reconstruction and rehabilitation on the basis of the database to be compiled ahead of the next month’s international donors conference.

—APP