PESHAWAR, April 8: About 166,000 survivors have returned to their ancestral areas from tent villages in five quake-hit districts of the NWFP. In a statement issued here on Saturday, Regional Relief Commissioner, Sahibzada Mohammad Anees said the relocation process had entered the final stage and so far 166,000 people had gone back to their areas.

He said the government had set up tent villages in Garhi Habibullah, Deheryal and Bisham areas for vulnerable groups, particularly orphans and widows.

The commission, he said, would provide food and other assistance to vulnerable groups till their rehabilitation.

He said that 44 tenet villages had been set up in quake-stricken areas with technical and financial assistance of UN agencies, NGOs and philanthropists.

According to the statement, all returnees had been provided with transport facilities and food. Officials said the tent villages would be wound up in a week.