US Congressmen distribute blankets to quake affectees
By Hina Kiyani

ISLAMABAD—US Congressmen on Monday handed out blankets in the village of Miani Bandi as U.S. sailors continued their work with the residents to rebuild the earthquake-damaged site as part of the Pakistan military's Adopt-A-Village program.
Representatives Jim Kolbe, Arizona, Mark Kirk, Illinois, and Fred Upton, Michigan, distributed blankets to the villagers and spent time with the Navy Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Batallion-74, who have been working in the Muzaffarabad area since Oct. 27. The sailors began work in Miani Bandi on Nov. 22 after the Pakistan military started the Adopt-A-Village program whereby groups adopt villages to assist earthquake survivors in the Kashmir Province rebuild their lives.
The Seabees home ported in Gulfport, Miss., had most of their homes damaged or destroyed in August when Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast in the United States. The Pakistani military "Adopt a Village "program has three phases, phase one consists of supplying tents, phase two consists of building durable shelters and phase three is the rebuilding of permanent homes for those affected by the earthquake.