QM News 63 (pdf 752KB) - Queen Margaret University

PAGE 12
POSTCARD FROM PAKISTAN
Janet Raymond, a graduate from
Queen Margaret’s Institute for
International Health and
Development, has been working in
Pakistan for Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF), an international
humanitarian aid organisation,
following the earthquake in October
2005. Janet contacted us at the end
of November to tell us her story.
Q: Where are you based?
A: Immediately after arriving in Azad
Kashmir I was whisked away by
helicopter to the small village of Saidpur,
north of Muzafarrabad (the epicentre of
the earthquake), with instructions to stay
four days and I’ve been here ever since!
Q: Can you set the scene for us?
A: For the first 20 minutes of the
helicopter journey I could see nothing
but steep-sided mountains dropping
down into river valleys, the snowcapped
mountains of India on one side
and the barren, stark mountains of
Afghanistan on the other. Soon the
scene changed and I started to see why
I was there. The houses started
disappearing into piles of rubble with
white tents adjacent. As we got closer
to the city, huge landslides were evident
where massive parts of mountains had
fallen, taking houses and even villages
with it. Muzaffarabad looked like a bomb
site. Wooden or mud houses were
completely destroyed; hospitals, schools
and universities gone. This was two
weeks after the earthquake.
Q: What type of injuries have you had
to deal with?
A: I’ve seen traumatic amputations,
spinal injuries, huge scalp lacerations
and fractures of every bone. In our
mobile clinic, initially, we were
performing amputations in a room of a
partially destroyed house! The
aftershocks were still quite strong and
each time this happened we had to run
out of the building, so we relocated the
‘operating theatre’ to a tent.
After the initial emergency phase it was
decided that a team would stay and
have a base in this village, and another
would walk to the other villages with
vaccines. The latter is mainly my role
and I spend many hours walking the
steep-sided mountains with a
vaccination team and a small
dressing kit.
Q: How have you been affected by
the scenes that you have witnessed?
A: It brings the reality of the loss closer
when you pass by a row of freshly-dug
graves, sometimes up to 10 or 11 of the
same family. The other day I passed by
two women who were sitting at the end
of the graves of their small babies. They
looked completely bewildered.
Q: How long will you stay in the area?
A: Once we have finished the
vaccination and finished evacuating the
‘stragglers’ from the earthquake, we
have to decide whether or not to stay for
the winter. Our living facilities at present
are not enough to support a cold winter
so we would need to invest in wood
stoves and better buildings. MSF is
going to pilot new ‘flat packed’ iglootype
constructions called ‘pods’ in some
areas, so that may be an option. It will
depend also on the number of
consultations at the clinic which, at the
moment, is around 70 per day. The
problem for the whole area is that all the
schools and health facilities have been
destroyed, as well as health workers and
teachers killed, so people have little
access to any type of heathcare.
Q: How are people able to rebuild
their lives and communities?
A: All the villages where I am working
have received a donation from the Red
Cross of plastic sheeting for shelter, five
blankets per family and food for two
months. MSF is now in the process of
giving out hygiene kits, pots and pans,
blankets, more tents and tool kits. The
Pakistani Army has done a great job on
the roads. The road to our location may
be open in a couple of days which will
make the situation a whole lot easier for
everyone: so far, people are walking six
hours to get their shopping.
Q: How have the Pakistani people
responded to you?
A: I cannot describe the hospitality of
the Pakistani people, especially in the
remote areas. Everyone is so happy
about our presence and make us feel
truly welcome. Even when walking
around the mountains, tea is offered at
every home, sometimes on top of their
tumbled down house! We are given
food, with tables and chairs and best
china, in the most remote and beautiful
locations, with the most fantastic views!
We are often invited to the chief of the
village’s home for evening meal - better
curry than any restaurant!
Photos courtesy of Ton Koene/MSF