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MSF Operations in Earthquake-Affected Areas

November 2, 2005

 

  • Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical teams treat hundreds of patients every day
  • Teams working permanently in 18 locations and performing outreach activities to identify populations in need of assistance
  • 2,200 winterized family tents or construction kits distributed so far and thousands more to be distributed in the coming weeks
  • 15,000 blankets distributed and thousands more to come
  • 2,000 children vaccinated
  • 140 international and more than 200 national staff
  • Provisional budget of more than 18 million euros

Operational Constraints

A major setback for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (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. Some places are only accessible by helicopter, but will soon be completely out of reach with the deteriorating weather conditions. The Pakistani government has made an appeal for people to leave the mountains and regroup in camps in the valley. However it is very difficult to estimate how many people will respond to the appeal, and figures vary from several thousand people up to 200,000 people. Additionally, the constant movement of people is making it hard to estimate how many people have already come down. The first impression is that the influx of people is not massive, and that many people will stay in the mountains. If this is the case, then the biggest challenge will be to reach these people and deliver them assistance.

Distribution of relief goods MSF has started to distribute thousands of winterized tents, blankets, sleeping bags, construction kits, and relief items such as cooking and hygiene kits to the survivors of the earthquake in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and the country's North-West Frontier Province. With the arrival of the winter in a few weeks time, the most urgent task now is to provide a shelter to thousands of homeless. These distributions require a massive logistical effort and MSF is worried that the snow could hamper the operation before it is completed.

Medical assistance

MSF continues to provide medical assistance to hundreds of patients every day. Teams work permanently in 18 locations and still perform outreach activities, by car, by helicopter, or by foot, to identify new locations where victims of the earthquake are still in urgent need of assistance. Thousands of people have been treated so far, mainly for wounds and fractures. While these cases, direct consequence of the earthquake, are decreasing, MSF medical teams have recorded a recent increase in respiratory infections, skin infections, and diarrheas, all pathologies related to the poor living conditions of the victims. To avoid possible outbreaks of epidemic diseases, MSF is currently vaccinating thousands of children against measles and has vaccinated patients against tetanus as well. The organization also provides mental health support to traumatized victims.

Staff and material

More than 140 international staff, including doctors, nurses, surgeons, psychologists, social workers, logisticians, and water-and-sanitation experts together with another 200 local staff are working in MSF's earthquake relief operations in Pakistan. The organization has already brought more than 750 tons of relief goods into Pakistan including medical items (such as emergency medical kits, drugs, surgical material, dressings, plaster, dialysis machines, high-protein food, oral re-hydration solution), logistical material (especially water-and-sanitation material such as tanks, pumps, and water-treatment units) and shelter (winterized tents, blankets, and sleeping mats). Additional relief items such as hygiene, cooking and construction kits are being purchased locally.

India

In addition, MSF teams in Indian Kashmir give mental health support, provide medical and logistical items to hospitals and distribute relief goods.

DETAIL OF THE OPERATIONS IN PAKISTAN

Distribution of relief goods

MSF has started distribution of family winterized tents, blankets, construction kits, and hygiene and cooking kits to thousands of people in remote areas of Bagh, Mansehra and Muzaffarabad districts. More than 2,200 tents or construction kits and another 15,000 blankets have been distributed so far. Thousands more should be distributed in the coming weeks.

Medical assistance:

Bagh district:


In Bagh town, MSF has set up a tented medical facility outside the compound of the district hospital that had collapsed. MSF's structure includes an operating room, laboratory, delivery room, intensive care, emergency room, and an inpatient ward with about 40 beds. Permanent outpatient facilities have been set up in Bagh town, Bir Pani, Mallot, and Paniani. In each of these places, medical teams provide basic health care to about a hundred patients every day. Other teams are still exploring the region to identify new needs.

Muzaffarabad district:


More than 3,300 people have been treated so far by MSF in the district. MSF has set up permanent outpatient facilities for consultations, vaccinations, and referrals in the villages of Saidpur, Kai Manja, Lamnian, and more recently in Lipa. Medical teams go to the surroundings settlements by foot. Mobile medical teams also go on a regular basis to the villages of Charakpura, Kumiket, and Jhandgran, and try to identify new locations where people are still in need of assistance.

Mansehra and Batagram districts

:
To support the considerably damaged Mansehra district hospital, MSF has set up five tents to provide cleaner and larger accommodation to patients. A tetanus intensive-care unit is already running. While an outpatient facility has been installed in one of the displaced people camps of town.

In Kargan, a measles-vaccination campaign is ongoing. More than 2,000 children have been vaccinated so far. In this village, MSF team still assists an average of 80 patients per day in an outpatient facility. Another medical team is now working in Gangwal, north of Mansehra, in the Alai valley, and treats an average of 80 patients per day.

Islamabad:


A MSF surgeon supports the pediatric ward of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad's major hospital, where hundreds of severely injured victims have been referred. The nephrologists (kidney specialists) team that was treating victims with "crush syndrome" in PIMS hospital has now completed its mission. When the team left, of the 32 crush syndrome patients treated at the hospital, 2 had died, 5 were still on dialysis support, and the rest had already recovered. Crush syndrome is a condition in which muscles tissues damaged by severe internal injury can release massive quantities of toxins in the blood and lead to kidney failure. Left untreated, crush syndrome can be fatal. MSF trained local staff and flew in four dialysis machines that were donated to Pakistani health authorities.

Mental health support

MSF continues to provide mental health care to hundreds of traumatized victims in Muzaffarabad, Mansehra and Bagh districts.

Water and sanitation

MSF teams improve water and sanitation structures in displaced camps in Muzaffarabad and Mansehra. The organization has also set up water supply and sanitation facilities to support Bagh and Mansehra hospitals.

 

 

Tags: South Asian Earthquake, Natural Disaster

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