Nairobi — Government officials have moved to Faza Village in Lamu to evaluate the cost of each of the houses that were burnt down last month.

The findings are expected to pave way for the planned reconstruction of the houses set to begin later this week.

More than 500 houses were destroyed in the blaze, leaving scores of families without a roof over their heads.

The victims later received tents from well-wishers but some of them were washed away when the rains started last week.

Lamu East district commissioner Pius Mugambi on Monday said workers from the Ministry of Housing and Ministry of Works have been deployed to estimate the cost of rebuilding the burnt houses.

Last month, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga led a fundraiser in which more than Sh6 million was raised to help the victims.

Mr Mugambi said his office had received more than 3,000 roofing sheets from different donors to help in rebuild the houses.

"The officers are counting the number of houses and their estimated costs to ensure they are reconstructed in the next few weeks as rains persist in the area," said the DC.

Mr Mugambi said all fire victims have been moved to the tents erected by the US Marine and Kenya Red Cross Society.

"Candidates who are scheduled to sit for exams starting this week have been given priority and some are in social halls where they are preparing for the exams," said Mr Mugambi.

Early this week, hundreds of area residents had to go back to mosques and social halls after the temporary shelters they had been living in since the fire razed their homes last month were washed away by rains.

At the same time, an organisation advocating children's rights has asked the government to provide learning materials to hundreds of school-going children whose books were razed by the fire.

Kenya Alliance for the Advancement of Children national director Timothy Ekesa said several children are suffering because there were no adequate learning materials.

Mr Ekesa said it is the duty of the government to provide learning materials to school- going children.