ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: The deputy chairman of the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) has told people of the earthquake-affected areas to complete constructing their houses by Dec 31, 2007, during a visit to Swanj and Dheerkot, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K).

According to a news release issued here on Sunday, Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmad said Erra’s strategies would remain focused on disaster risk management. He said Erra had been stressing the need for seismically-safe construction, as it was not the earthquake that killed people but unsafe houses.

Expressing satisfaction that people were now constructing seismically-safe structures, he said they had realized the importance of Erra’s designs for construction. He informed that Erra had released over Rs40.042 billion to 456,448 families.

He said the size of the blocks, recommended for construction, was a vital ingredient for seismically-safe construction. He called upon the block-manufacturing units to stick to manufacturing only the approved sized blocks.

While inaugurating a water supply scheme, he said all 4,000 water supply schemes, destroyed in the quake, were being rehabilitated and thanked donors for undertaking 60 per cent work in the water and sanitation sector. While for the remaining schemes, he said, the government had approved Rs1.293 billion. He informed that around 800 (20 per cent) schemes had been revived so, far.

He also distributed cheques among affected persons as the 4th instalment for constructing houses.—Our Reporter