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Pakistan earthquake city to be moved
[April 02, 2006]

Pakistan earthquake city to be moved


(UPI Top Stories Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Balakot -- home to 300,000 Pakistanis before an earthquake in the Kashmir region rocked the area in October -- will be rebuilt away from fault lines.

Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said the city will be rebuilt, but in a new location to be determined by officials of the North-West Frontier Province, the BBC reports.

Most of the city was destroyed in October when the 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed more than 73,000 people and left millions homeless.

Ahmad said the move to a new location will give survivors a better life and reduce fears of another deadly quake.

Balakot, 120 miles north of Islamabad, was built on top of a major fault line.

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