IRC Teams Aid Traumatized Earthquake Survivors

International Rescue Committee emergency teams are continuing to provide urgently needed assistance to survivors in areas of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province hardest-hit by Saturday’s massive earthquake. Today, IRC teams working under severe conditions are assessing the situation and distributing food, blankets and tents to several thousand survivors in the districts of Abottabad, Manshera, Shangla and Batagram. The IRC has also deployed doctors, paramedics and stocks of medicines to support overwhelmed hospitals in these areas. IRC psychosocial counselors are en route to aid traumatized victims, particularly women and children.

In Abottabad and Manshera, IRC staff members stunned by the scale of the disaster paused to donate their own blood for survivors needing transfusions. IRC teams who reached the heavily damaged Balakot area of Manshera say 97% of its buildings have been razed by the quake. They are working with local residents to clear the debris to find survivors, but say that equipment is needed to move heavy rubble and rescue those still trapped. Read More ....


Source: AlertNet