BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: Kashmir has long been as troubled as it is beautiful. Fought over by India and Pakistan, it was devastated last October by an earthquake that killed perhaps 80,000 people. There were fears that winter would kill many more. But the worst did not happen. There's an enormous amount of reconstruction to be done, but massive relief work and a relatively mild winter have permitted the Pakistan government to insist now that earthquake refugees leave their camps and go home -- or to where home used to be. Fred de Sam Lazaro has the story.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Not since Berlin after World War II has the world seen a humanitarian airlift on this scale. The airlift began last October. The earthquake wiped out a vast impoverished region isolated among the earth's tallest mountains. Relief workers had feared a second wave of exposure-related deaths over winter, especially among those who remained in the most remote villages -- places cut off after the quake. But spring arrived, and from all accounts a catastrophe was averted. In this village of Ghaipur, Shukriya Jan and her family got by in this tiny shed built near their collapsed home. It has served as kitchen and bedroom for nine people.

SHUKRIYA JAN (Through Translator): We used the warm clothes that we had before the earthquake. It was difficult, but God provided.

DE SAM LAZARO: More importantly, people here say God provided a mild winter. Also, some 300,000 people moved to tent camps with easier access to relief supplies. But now the government, which urged people into these camps, says it's time for them to go back.

ALTAF SALEEM (Chair, Pakistan Earthquake Recovery Committee): We have to take people back to their own place. If we linger on too long unnecessarily in the tents, there's the tendency to get used to easy supply of food, and this can create problems in the future.

DE SAM LAZARO: To keep people from becoming dependent on handouts, Pakistan's government ordered all free food distribution stopped last month, except to those widowed or maimed in the quake. The government promised money to build small homes, but not until after people have returned.

Mr. SALEEM: The sooner they move to their homeland, the quicker they can start construction. And this will help them so they can make a shelter available to them before the next winter comes. I think we are looking at everybody moving to that place and starting their life in the next two months or so. I think 85 percent to 90 percent of people will move back and start some kind of construction.

DE SAM LAZARO: International agencies share the government's concern about fostering a climate of dependence. They will continue providing food, but now it will be in exchange for work, like clearing rubble. They've also promised seeds and farm tools, but they think the transition will take much longer.

KEITH URSEL (World Food Program): Most of them are going back to the same destroyed village or the same destroyed house or agriculture land that they left six months ago. That's why they left. So those people going back, we do consider them quite vulnerable.

DE SAM LAZARO: To ease the transition, relief workers are making sure returnees like the family of Mohammad Din are fit to travel -- that they have adequate provisions. After hours of loading and waiting, the convoy left north for the Neelum Valley. The treacherous drive is just one reminder of the legacy of the earthquake: almost daily landslides. A couple of hours later, Mohammad Din's family was dropped off six miles from their former home. The last stretch is accessible only on foot -- another two hours. For the moment he decided to join several relatives who had earlier pitched their tents in this spot.

MOHAMMED DIN (Through Translator): They told us, "Go to your village." So what could we do? They said, "You'll get everything there. Here in the camp you won't get anything." They said, "You'll be able to get building materials."

DE SAM LAZARO: But how to find a lot to build on? Din lost not only his home, but his property was buried under a landslide.

Mr. DIN (Through Translator): Never mind the money. There's just nowhere to stand. The government said they would give us 150,000 rupees. If I can get land, that would be enough to build a house. But until that time, we'll live in a tent.