By IPS Correspondents
ALGIERS, May 30 2003 (IPS)

The government of quake-hit Algeria announced a 1.89 billion USD reconstruction program Friday to provide 20,000 new homes for the tens of thousands of people whose housing was destroyed, state radio said.

Imams of mosques planned special prayers Friday for those missing in the quake that devastated towns east of the capital Algiers on May 21.

The government will invest 144 billion dinars, equal to1.89 billion USD, over the next two years in the program to rebuild 49 communities, many of which were leveled, state radio said.

The program will include 20,000 housing units for an estimated 80,000 survivors living in tents or in the open in the quake zone, the report said, citing the Interior Ministry.

Officially, the death toll from the quake stands at 2,251, with another 10,243 injured. But many more, as many as 2,000 according to one newspaper, are missing.

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