In pictures: Earthquake Hits Pakistan-India Border
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Twelve-year old Muktiar Ehmad also needed urgent medical care.
Muktiar was crushed when the high school collapsed, killing 25 of his classmates. He had deep wounds and spinal nerve damage so serious that – without immediate attention – he faced paralysis.
Muktiar had his wounds cleaned by David Wilson, a surgeon from Nottingham, and was airlifted to safety in the next helicopter. -
Medical equipment, tents and a team of staff were airlifted in by helicopter.
In the first four days of the operation, the hospital treated more than 350 patients.
Troy Ingham, a nurse from Australia, recalls: "People were being carried down the mountains in their beds, and we worked non-stop." -
Initially, the vast majority of patients at the hospital were treated for wounds and broken bones.
Many wounds had become infected because they had been wrapped in dirty dressings.
The Merlin team cleaned the wounds and provided follow- up care.
Eight year old Irshad Bashir was treated by David Wilson, a surgeon from Nottingham. IrshadÂ’s head was injured when the family house collapsed on him. -
During the second week of the operation, news of the hospital spread.
Here Hassein Bibi, carried by her father, waits for attention from Dr Rizwan Hassan. -
Most people directly injured by the earthquake have now been treated or evacuated.
However, as the winter sets in the need for on-going medical aid and shelter is just as great.
Many people, such as the Khan family, are living in crowded, makeshift shelters.
These conditions massively increase the risk of disease outbreaks and lung infections. -
MerlinÂ’s operation has enabled children like Saheed to recover from their physical injuries.
It will take longer, however, for the community to rebuild itsÂ’ homes, health facilities and infrastructure.
SaheedÂ’s father, Abdul, pictured here with Saheed as he recovers in the Islamabad ChildrenÂ’s Hospital, comments: "Our home is destroyed, but I want to go back to Panj Kot. We must rebuild."
www.merlin.org.uk -
AP - Mon Nov 28,11:15 AM ET
A Kashmiri from the earthquake-ridden area of Sudhan, Gali Mohammad Asghar, waits with his sick children for his turn in freezing cold outside the NATO hospital in Bagh, Pakistani Kashmir, Monday, Nov 28, 2005. Dozens of people suffering from hypothermia and respiratory illnesses were taken to hospitals as rain and snow lashed Pakistan's quake-stricken part of Kashmir, blocking roads and grounding helicopters used to ferry aid to remote areas. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash) -
AP - Mon Nov 28,11:34 AM ET
Air Commodore Andy Walton, left, Commander of the NATO Disaster Response Team (DRT) meets Khan Mohammad, right, a Kashmiri from a quake-hit area, during his visit to a NATO hospital in Bagh, in Pakistani Kashmir, Monday, Nov. 28, 2005. Dozens of people suffering from hypothermia and respiratory illnesses were taken to hospitals as rain and snow lashed Pakistan's quake-stricken part of Kashmir, blocking roads and grounding helicopters used to ferry aid to remote areas. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash) -
AP - Mon Nov 28,11:43 AM ET
Air Commodore Andy Walton, second from right, Commander of the NATO Disaster Response Team (DRT) visits a main road destroyed in the earth quake, which links the Pakistan Kashmiri city of Bagh to Rawalpindi and is currently being rebuilt by NATO soldiers, Monday, Nov. 28, 2005. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash) -
AP - Mon Nov 28, 3:50 PM ET
A destroyed jetty at the Medhufushi Hotel is seen hours after a tidal wave ripped through the hotel on the Meemu atoll, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Male, Maldives islands, Dec. 26, 2004. About 300 guests, none of them injured, were evacuated by the Pakistani Navy from the atoll on Monday. At least 63,000 people are reported dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast, most killed by massive tidal waves that smashed coastlines after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Indonesia's coast on Sunday. (AP Photo/Yann Moaligou) -
AFP - Mon Nov 28, 7:18 PM ET
A US helicopter with relief supplies flies in front of the snow covered mountains on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan- administered Kashmir. Millions of earthquake survivors in mountainous Kashmir faced further misery as persistent rain and the first winter snows cut off roads and disrupted relief operations.(AFP/Banaras Khan) -
AFP - Mon Nov 28, 7:18 PM ET
Pakistani Kashmiri men cross a damaged bridge in Ghari Dupatta, some 21 kms from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Millions of earthquake survivors in mountainous Kashmir faced further misery as persistent rain and the first winter snows cut off roads and disrupted relief operations.(AFP/Banaras Khan) -
AFP - Mon Nov 28, 7:18 PM ET
Pakistani Kashmiri earthquake survivors sit at a school in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Millions of earthquake survivors in mountainous Kashmir faced further misery as persistent rain and the first winter snows cut off roads and disrupted relief operations.(AFP/Banaras Khan) -
AFP - Mon Nov 28, 7:18 PM ET
Pakistani labourers clean the debris of a collapsed building in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Millions of earthquake survivors in mountainous Kashmir faced further misery as persistent rain and the first winter snows cut off roads and disrupted relief operations.(AFP/Banaras Khan) -
AFP - Mon Nov 28, 7:18 PM ET
Pakistani volunteers (R) unload corrugated iron sheets prior to distribution to earthquake survivors in Ghari Dupatta, some 21 kms from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Millions of earthquake survivors in mountainous Kashmir faced further misery as persistent rain and the first winter snows cut off roads and disrupted relief operations.(AFP/Banaras Khan) -
AFP - Tue Nov 29, 2:41 AM ET
Pakistani Kashmiri students walk along a snow covered track as the journey to school in the village of Pieer Chanasi, some 25 km from Muzaffarabad. Pneumonia is spreading amongst cold and hungry children who survived Pakistan's giant earthquake, killing two and affecting hundreds more as the Himalayan winter sweeps in(AFP/Banaras Khan) -
AFP - Tue Nov 29, 2:41 AM ET
Pakistani Kashmiri men use a jeep to travel along a snow covered road in the village of Pieer Chanasi, some 25 km from Muzaffarabad. Pneumonia is spreading amongst cold and hungry children who survived Pakistan's giant earthquake, killing two and affecting hundreds more as the Himalayan winter sweeps in(AFP/Banaras Khan) -
Reuters - Tue Nov 29, 6:37 AM ET
A Kashmiri earthquake survivor peers out from his tent at a refugee camp in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, November 27, 2005. Hundreds of people, most of them children, have contracted pneumonia in Pakistan's earthquake-stricken zone as harsh winter weather sets in, health officials said on Tuesday. (Amiruddin Mughal/Reuters) -
Reuters - Tue Nov 29, 8:06 AM ET
An elderly woman who is an earthquake survivor cries in the devastated village of Chlanna in Neelum Valley, some 55 km (34 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, November 29, 2005. Hundreds of people, most of them children, have contracted pneumonia in Pakistan's earthquake-stricken zone as harsh winter weather sets in, health officials said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic -
Reuters - Tue Nov 29, 8:09 AM ET
An earthquake survivor holds her child in the devastated village of Chlanna in Neelum Valley, some 55 km (34 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, November 29, 2005. Hundreds of people, most of them children, have contracted pneumonia in Pakistan's earthquake-stricken zone as harsh winter weather sets in, health officials said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic -
Reuters - Tue Nov 29, 8:14 AM ET
Elderly women who are earthquake survivors sit in the devastated village of Chlanna in Neelum Valley, some 55 km (34 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, November 29, 2005. Hundreds of people, most of them children, have contracted pneumonia in Pakistan's earthquake-stricken zone as harsh winter weather sets in, health officials said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic -
Reuters - Tue Nov 29, 8:17 AM ET
An earthquake survivor unloads humanitarian aid from a Pakistani Army helicopter in the devastated village of Chlanna in Neelum Valley, some 55 km (34 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, November 29, 2005. Hundreds of people, most of them children, have contracted pneumonia in Pakistan's earthquake-stricken zone as harsh winter weather sets in, health officials said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic -
Reuters - Tue Nov 29, 8:20 AM ET
An earthquake survivor walks in the devastated village of Chlanna in Neelum Valley, some 55 km (34 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, November 29, 2005. Hundreds of people, most of them children, have contracted pneumonia in Pakistan's earthquake-stricken zone as the harsh winter weather sets in, health officials said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic -
Reuters - Tue Nov 29, 8:32 AM ET
A boy who is an earthquake survivor looks out of a shelter in the devastated village of Chlanna in Neelum Valley, some 55 km (34 miles) northeast of Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, November 29, 2005. Hundreds of people, most of them children, have contracted pneumonia in Pakistan's earthquake-stricken zone as harsh winter weather sets in, health officials said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic -
Reuters - Tue Nov 29, 8:50 AM ET
A Pakistani child, Mohammad Aakash, shows his hand that was wounded in the October 8 earthquake and has now become infected at Jamia Binoria Islamia Karachi in Karachi November 29, 2005. Children arrived in Karachi for admission to Jamia Binoria Islamia Karachi following the destruction of Madrassahs in the earthquake hit area of Northern Pakistan and Kashmir. REUTERS/Athar Hussain