To provide immediate relief to the survivors of the quake, we distributed basic care packages (tents, blankets and food rations) to more than 40,000 affectees, well exceeding our target of 20,000. In an organized effort to ensure that goods were given out to the real affectees only, a relief system was devised whereby victims of the quake were requested to register themselves at our camps. A team was then dispatched to make an assessment of the village particulars and assess needs in terms of number of houses destroyed, population of villages, number of deaths etc. This helped determine the number of essentials that will need to be sent to the village on the following day. The following tehsils were reached by our immediate relief efforts:

The following tehsils were reached by our immediate relief efforts: · Bagh · Rawlakot · Balakot · Shinkairi · Ghari Duppatta · Hajjian Balla · Villages in and around Muzaffarabad · Mansehra and Abbotabad in collaboration with Sungi

		Ahad, a Karachi based TCF volunteer who runs the relief goods operations is popularly referred to as “Commander”. He was apprehended by a gang of armed thieves who wanted to loot relief goods. Ahad was beaten up with the butt of a gun by the gang before he was saved by army personnel. With a swollen eye and injuries on his face, Ahad continues to work around the clock and fulfill his role as the “Commander”.

	TCF Field Hospitals
		With the number of injured escalating to frightening proportions, TCF took immediate action and started operating medical camps in some of the quake affected areas. We set up the first TCF Field Hospital at the Neelam Valley Ground in Muzaffarabad with 80 beds, an adequately equipped operation theatre along with X-Ray, pharmacy and laboratory facilities. A team of volunteer doctors and specialists worked around the clock at this makeshift hospital where over three hundred surgeries took place in its first week of operations. Another field hospital was started in the High Court Building Grounds in Muzaffarabad with 120 beds. This hospital also had an operation theatre, X-Ray facility and pharmacy. In addition, TCF assisted in the establishment of two medical camps in Battal and Balakot, which were independently managed by groups of volunteer doctors present in the area.
	Allies in Stress
	The Army Medical Camp (AMC) and a team of French doctors and surgeons formed relief camps to cater to the large number of injured earthquake victims being airlifted from remote areas such as the Neelum and Jhelum valleys. With the assistance of 12 to 14 helicopters, the injured were brought to the Neelum Ground helipad at a rate of 4 - 28 per helicopter (depending upon its size). Their efforts were, however, insufficient to meet the high demand of medical needs. The TCF team arrived in Muzaffarabad on 12th October to provide relief and medical aid to earthquake victims. The number of volunteers and doctors fluctuated from 100 to 250 and came from USA, UAE, UK, Jinnah Postgraduate medical center (JPMC)-Karachi, Allama Iqbal Medical College (Lahore), Baqai University (Karachi), and Liaquat University of Medical Sciences (Hyderabad). The first camp was set up located adjacent to the Neelum Ground and was able to meet 50% of the demand of injured people being flown in.

		TCF at Work
		TCF's first medical camp located at the Neelum ground premises started operating from the 14th of October '05 and within 24 hours was sufficiently equipped with necessary emergency facilities. he dedicated team of TCF volunteers and doctors started operating continuously throughout the day as batches of helicopters brought the wounded from various parts of the valley. The doctors continued operating late into the evening to clear the backlog of several patients still lying on stretchers long after the last helicopter returned to Chaklala (Rawalpindi) after delivering the last batch of patients around 5:30 pm.
		Medical Requirments
		Demand for the post-surgical beds in the Neelum Ground swelled from 20 on the first day to almost 80 by the end of the week. While doctors, assisted by medical technicians, performed surgeries and various medical procedures, engineers, lawyers, project managers, businessmen, storekeepers and security guards provided support to the medical team which included managing and cleaning the operation theatre, sterilizing equipment, manning the pharmacy, assisting in orthopaedic management, shifting the patients and most importantly post-surgical care of patients in the tented wards. The latter was an extremely important task as a large number of patients were either paralysed from the waste down, or were suffering from multiple amputations, needing special post-surgical care.

	The Volunteers
		To enhance medical capability, volunteers from all walks of life were trained in providing the basics of emergency health care. For example, in setting up intravenous drips, administering injections, administration of catheters, etc. As there was ample shortage of volunteers, trained or untrained, two recruiters sought out people from the city of Muzaffarabad. Some such recruits stayed with the team for several days and most worked with the team for weeks. While TCF continued to add beds and support staff to the Neelum Ground camp, and was performing close to 70 to 75 surgeries a day (about 50% of the total demand at this location), it was quite clear to the Army Operations from the onset that additional helicopters would be required to cater to the overwhelming requirements of the unattended patients throughout the two valleys.
	Field of Operations
	After seven days of operations, the Armed Forces decided to split the evacuation process. As they brought in additional helicopters two field of operations were formed, one still at the Neelum ground to cater to the Neelum Valley and a second helipad was established at the High Court vicinity for the Jhelum Valley . A second camp with a capacity of 100 beds was hence set up by TCF to serve post-operation patients.
		By the end of the 9 th day there were almost 84 helicopters of various organizations, nationalities, types and sizes assisting in the evacuation operation which was fast becoming one of the most difficult and strenuous relief operations ever conducted in any part of the world in the last century. The difficulty was mostly due to the terrain consisting of remote valleys and mountains without any road network. Thousands of patients mostly women and children, were lying helplessly under piles of rubble or open skies for over a week with unattended wounds, which were fast becoming cases of gangrene. This dilemma left very little choice to the doctors but to amputate in order to save these precious lives once they arrived at the medical camps.
	TCF's Camp #2 was fully equipped and operational with a surgical unit, 120-bed hospital, pharmacy, living quarters and all logistical support within 12 hours of instructions, starting to receive patients on the morning of 21 st October. The local administration was impressed by this effort and decided to rely entirely on TCF for providing medical support at the new helicopter field, hence relieving the already over stretched AMC from some pressure. TCF's Medical Camps 1 and 2 continued operations for almost ten days in parallel, until the patient inflow at the Neelum Ground reduced to less than 70% from what it was during the peak days. This demand could easily be fulfilled by the AMC unit and after consultation with the Military operations, TCF decided to close Camp 1 on 27 th October. All inpatients were then transferred to the Camp 2 wards for post-surgical care. As a matter of routine at the TCF camps, every leaving family was provided with tents for shelter, warm blankets, some food ration and some money (left to us by generous donors). Several TCF volunteers remain in touch with these patients and their families and continue to do whatever is needed to help them get back to their normal lives, while TCF continues to support them with their Temporary Shelter Program depending on their location in their permanent rehabilitation program. TCF has now wound up its two field hospitals as professional medical facilities such as MASH ( Mobile Army Surgical Hospital ) have arrived and taken over much of the medical activities in the area. Setting up hospitals was not a part of our agenda; however, the need for medical facilities was so overwhelming that we had to take immediate action. Focus has now shifted towards the second phase of operations - Permanent Housing - that will entail rebuilding destroyed communities by constructing permanent homes for the victims.

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