Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Wednesday that the quake-hit areas are in dire need of tents to protect survivors in the coming winter.

While visiting Balakot, one of the country's most heavily stricken areas during the massive Oct. 8 earthquake, Musharraf said providing shelters to the affected people is now "the foremost priority of the government."

Federal Relief Commissioner Maj-Gen Farooq Ahmed Khan Tuesday announced that the government had imposed a ban on the export of tents from Pakistan with immediate effect.

"The government has taken some administrative measures to ensure that tents are provided to all displaced people in earthquake-hit areas before the advent of winter," Khan told a press conference at the Prime Minister Secretariat.

He said 37 factories in the Punjab produce 75,000 tents per day, and their production will be diverted to the affected areas. He noted that the export ban was on winterized and non-winterized tents.

"We need these tents, irrespective of their quality, as 200,000 houses were destroyed by the quake and millions were left homeless, " he said.

According to Khan, the commissioner, four tent villages able to hold 25,000 people each were set up in Balakot and another 22 tent villages will soon be established in the area.

Source: Xinhua