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Hugh in Balakot for Broadcasting House.

Eddie Mair | 06:33 UK time, Saturday, 12 January 2008

Included on the breakfast menu on Broadcasting House on Sunday at 0900, a report from Balakot - the Pakistan town almost entirely destroyed in the October 2005 south-Asia earthquake which killed at least 75,000 people.

Destroyed, but still inhabited. Balakot people tell Hugh Sykes they are not happy with government plans to create an earthquake-proof 'New Balakot' fifteen miles away. They want the town rebuilt where it is. Hear about it on BH on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Hugh sent these photos and words from Balakot:

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"Prefab: Hundreds of metal, prefab houses have been put up in Balakot, thanks to the Saudi government.


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Tents: The tent near the centre of the photo is a primary school.

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Survivors: Between fifteen and twenty thousand children were killed by the earthquake, when school buildings collapsed on top of them.


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Lucky: Zarkham (8 years old now) was thrown across his classroom and hit on theforehead by a falling brick. It's a startling scar, but Zarkham is cheerful and seems fine.

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Shack: Five-year-old Qinza with her mother in the shack her family has built next to the one remaining wall of their old home. Qinza says she wants to live in a 'good house', not a prefab - and her family say they don't want to move to 'New Balakot'.

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Revival: Fruit stall in the rebuilt Balakot bazaar, which mostly collapsed in the earthquake.

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Memories: By the light of a storm lantern - because of a power cut - a Balakot pharmacist and his assistant look at a book of photographs of the town before and after the earthquake."

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