M. A. Ismael - Government Servant, Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority

The earthquake of 2005 in Pakistan destroyed more then 600,000 houses in the area covering 30.000 square km. Equal to the size of New Zealand .Most of these houses were located in the rural areas i.e in the mountains or inside the deep mountainous valleys However the three major urban settlements in the area, the cities of Balakot Muzafferabad and Bagh were also badly affected. The city of Balakot with estimated population of 25000 got completely destroyed. 5000 people died and 95% of infrastructure felicities were destroyed. Later on, the national and international consortium of specialists confirmed that the city is located on the two major fault lines, running parallel all along the city. It was also confirmed that the epiccenter of the earthquake of 2005 in Pakistan was 10 km deep beneath the city of Balakot. Interestingly the fault lines originating from the central Asian states enter Pakistan from the north and passes along the cities of Balakot, Muzaffarabad and Bagh and enters into Hindustan (India). To provide housing solution to the affected cities, an Urban Housing Strategy was formulated. Transitional housing project and City Improvement Plan is one of the components of the Urban Housing Strategy and is a solution to provide a reasonable, reliable and a decent residential facility. In this paper, the interventions and strategies are prepared and implemented to rehabilitate and reconstruct town of Balakot and its peripheral areas are highlighted

Rehabilitation, Balakot, Pakistan, Earthquake