RAWALPINDI, Oct 29: The Pakistan Army has established 61 tent villages comprising 3,455 tents in various earthquake-battered areas of the NWFP. According to a statement of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), these areas include Balakot, Shankiari, Ghari Habib Ullah, Allai, Jabra and Mansehra.

More than 21,600 affected people have been accommodated in the tent villages. They are equipped with all the basic facilities. Efforts are being made to ensure food, medicine and clean drinking water to the people residing there.

In the Allai Valley, troops of Army Air Defence have established 26 tent villages where over 1000 families have been accommodated. A total of 2,300 tents have been pitched to make 26 tent villages in consultation with the area notables.

The stricken people staying in the tent villages have been provided with blankets, food and other items. Relief goods weighing around 1,630 tons, 220,531 blankets and 22,500 tents have so far been dispatched to the quake-hit parts of Azad Kashmir.

Two major relief centres have been established in Chialiana and Chakoti (Azad Kashmir) where more than 7000 affected people have been accommodated. Similarly, a village of 200 tents has been established in Muzaffarabad and a 50-tent village each has been set up in Bagh and Dhitkot.

Besides establishment of villages, over 100,000 tents have also been distributed among the needy people of Balakot, Batgram, Mansehra, and Gari Habib Ullah. Other areas where tents have been distributed in the NWFP include Bisham, Dir Kot, Ugi, Paras, Shinkiari, Shangla and Kaghan.

Meanwhile, water purification plants have also been established in Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Garhi Dupatta.

Mini Forward Bases have been established by troops to reach inaccessible areas where they could not reach during the first or second week of the quake.