MSF Team at Asian Earthquake Zone

MSF has a staff of three who recently arrived in the Pakistani area to start a project on safe motherhood. The focus now is to mobilize more staff and supplies to the region.

An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale struck in the north of Pakistan yesterday, just 80 kms north of the Pakistan capital, Islamabad. The affected area runs from the north of Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Kashmir. The damage throughout the affected region is considerable and the number of victims is expected to be high.

MSF was already present in the area with three expats in the village of Lamnian in Pakistani Kashmir, some 15 kilometers from the line of control with Indian Kashmir and close to the epicentre of the earthquake. The three are a project coordinator, logistician and nurse and were about to start a project there and were hiring national staff. The village has been completely destroyed, including the clinic where we are about to start working and the MSF house. The project would focus on safe motherhood. All team members are fine.

MSF is now focusing to getting response capacity to the region. MSF is looking into how to get additional resources in the country which include cargo as well as people. Surgical kits, emergency health kits, 10 dispensary tents, 1,000 winterised tents, 20,000 jerry cans, 50,000 blankets, chlorination kits, diesel motor pumps and 10 water distribution modules will come from Dubai, Delhi and Amsterdam in the coming days. MSF is also sending more medical (including mental health) and logistics people to the affected area to assist.