South Asian Earthquake

MSF medical teams have carried out more than 116,000 medical and mental health consultations since the earthquake that struck Pakistani- and Indian-administered Kashmir on October 8, 2005. In the aftermath, surgical teams performed more than 4,000 major and minor surgeries and provided physiotherapy for nearly 10,000 injured people.

Courtland Lewis, MD, an orthopedic surgeon from the University of Connecticut, spent three weeks in Mansehra, Pakistan, where he worked in the MSF field hospital, which is composed of nine inflatable tents.

After several weeks of dry weather, the start of severe winter weather brought sleet and icy rain to Muzaffarabad, Bagh, and Mansehra districts and up to five feet of snow at higher altitudes. Many roads were blocked by landslides and snow. In some places, road access will be difficult or impossible in the coming weeks and months.

Nick Lawson arrived two days after the devastating October 8 earthquake and supervised the set-up of MSF's medical and relief aid programs in the Northwest Frontier Province. With winter arriving, he offered an update on the situation people face and their need for continued assistance.

More than 120 international staff, including doctors, nurses, surgeons, psychologists, social workers, logisticians, water and sanitation experts, together with over 350 local staff, are involved with MSF's earthquake relief operations in Pakistan. The organization has already delivered more than 1,155 tons of relief goods to Pakistan.

More than 120 international staff, including doctors, nurses, surgeons, psychologists, social workers, logisticians, water and sanitation experts, together with over 350 local staff, are involved with MSF's earthquake relief operations in Pakistan.

Dr. Mercedes Tatay is the Emergency Programs Manager for MSF in Paris. She speaks about the magnitude of the devastation caused by the October 8 earthquake, describes the affected population's extreme vulnerability, and shares her concerns about a second wave of mortality.

Allison Male is a 36-year-old British psychologist. She arrived in Pakistani-administered Kashmir just days after the October 8 earthquake struck and her task is to provide psychosocial support to survivors of the disaster. She has also worked with MSF in Liberia and Burundi. This story is from her diary.

Temperatures are dropping and the first snowfalls have been recorded in mountain villages of the region affected by the earthquake. Therefore, the most urgent issue is still to provide shelter to thousands of homeless in remote villages before winter strikes.

A major setback for MSF operations is the difficulty to transport and distribute material. A large part of the population is dispersed in a mountainous region, where access is difficult and in some cases impossible.

Less than a week after the Asian earthquake of October 8, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) began to offer psychosocial care to traumatized survivors in northern Pakistan, the area worst hit by the disaster. Marise Denault, an MSF social worker and mental health specialist, explains the situation.

On October 10, two days after the earthquake that struck Kashmir, Dr. Jean-Francois Corty left for the devastated region to join a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) exploratory mission to assess the MSF relief effort.

"From their eyes, you can see how disturbed the children are," says Silke Krmer, a surgeon with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, one week after the earthquake. The German surgeon has been providing emergency aid here for four days now and has been distressed by the number of wounded children.

MSF medical teams are operating in both the Pakistani- and Indian-administered areas of Kashmir to assist victims of last Saturday's earthquake. Almost 80 international aid workers are working alongside dozens of national staff to provide medical assistance, mental health counseling, and relief and medical supplies to some of the hardest-hit areas.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams are operating in both the Pakistani- and Indian-administered areas of Kashmir to assist victims of last Saturday's earthquake. Almost 80 international aid workers will be working alongside dozens of national staff to provide medical assistance, mental health counseling, and relief and medical supplies to some of the hardest-hit areas.

Dr. Philippe Guérin, scientific director of Epicentre, a nonprofit epidemiological research partner of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), states that natural disasters do not cause epidemics. He details the risks and priorities in the wake of the Kashmir earthquake, as he had done after the Tsunami.

Islamabad, 10 October 2005 – The international medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has started to provide medical assistance and relief goods to the victims of last Saturday's earthquake in Pakistan and India. In the Pakistani and Indian controlled sides of Kashmir, MSF teams are focusing on medical assistance, mental health counseling, and the distribution of relief and medical supplies to assist the existing response.

"Immediately after the earthquake our team in India-controlled Kashmir set off to try and reach the most severely affected regions," says Hans van de Weerd, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) country coordinator in New Delhi, India. Both the Indian and the Pakistani regions of Kashmir were affected by last Saturday's earthquake. MSF is running a psychosocial program in the Indian region of Kashmir.