“It is very difficult to get a complete picture of the extent of the needs,” said Alan Lefevre, MSF emergency coordinator. “Many areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are still only accessible by air. As more heavy rains are expected, the situation in provinces such as Punjab, Kashmir, or Sindh is still very unclear.”
In areas still inaccessible by other means, MSF teams are assessing people’s needs by helicopter. “The situation in Charsadda and Nowshera districts is catastrophic,” said Lefevre, who was aboard one helicopter. “In areas surrounding Charsadda town and in the whole Nowshera district, we found entire villages that have been washed away. The people are just living outdoors, next to their destroyed house, and have not received any help.”
In the north of the Swat valley, the population is likely to remain cut off from aid for a long time as all infrastructure has been washed away.
Our medical teams are now supporting two hospitals; Nowshera and Pabbi, and yesterday (5th August) performed over 600 consultations, mainly for skin disease and acute diarrhoea.
“Although the hospital has not been so damaged, everything has been flushed away by the flood so the hospital has literally run out of drugs and equipment,” said Thomas Conan, MSF head of mission in Pakistan,of the Pabbi Hospital. “Our medical team is making sure that patients coming for consultation can actually go home with the drugs they need. Our next step in the coming days, is to make sure that the Emergency room can remain open 24/7 as there is currently no other round the clock free of charge health facility available in Nowshera.”
Recent heavy rainfall in Pakistan's northwest has caused massive destruction to houses and infrastructure, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless or displaced and without basic supplies. Nowashera province, 1st August 2010. Photo by MSF.
Our mobile medical teams are trying to reach people in isolated areas and yesterday provided 300 consultations in three different sites around Charsadda and Peshawar. Providing water and emergency kits is also still a priority and these are being distributed to thousands of people throughout the affected areas.
Please click here for more detailed information on MSF activities by region.