On October 8, 2005, a massive earthquake measuring 7.5 on the scale shook the whole of North India and Pakistan. Reported to be the first earthquake in the span of 120 years, this tragedy left hundreds of thousands of people homeless in the Kashmir valley. ADEPT's partner CMC Ludhiana joined hands with the Catholic Social Service Society and Catholic Relief Services to provide medical services to the survivors in Baramullah district of Kashmir.
The villages are at distances ranging from 30 to 80 Km from Baramulla town. Most of them are small hamlets far from each other with a population of a few hundred. The medical outreach outreach teams drive two to three hours to the nearest road access point and then set out on foot to the villages. They have to walk and climb over land-slides and mountainsides for two to four hours to reach the village. On reaching the village they move door-to-door offering treatment.
So far the outreach teams have treated four thousand three hundred and eight patients in 22 villages. Roughly 20% of the survivors are injured and suffer from fractures, bone dislocations etc. that require orthopedic procedures. Others require cleaning and dressing of injuries wounds, minor cuts and bruises. Patients with serious injuries are carried down to St. Joseph's Hospital, Baramullah for further treatment.
A large number of patients suffer from debilitation, respiratory tract infections, generalized body pains, and skin infections. Children suffer from malnutrition, Most of the villagers including children are suffering from diseases caused by poor hygiene such as scabies. Proper follow-up of cases is a near impossiblity due to the logistics of terrain, distance and access.
Shelter is a major problem. A major concern to the survivors is still exposure to cold. that overnight temperatures range from 0 -- 9=B0 centigrade and are getting colder. Trapaulin tents that have been distributed do not keep out cold and damp and have been abandoned. The villagers huddle under lean-tos made of tin sheets against the sides of standing buildings or heaps of rubble. In some villages rain- drenched children and elderly, huddle together under tin sheets, and shiver with cold.
It is only a matter of time before poor sanitation, pneumonia, suppuration of wounds, and malnutrition, and exposure begin to result in more deaths.