Flood Victims Healthcare Outreach Program, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

The freak monsoon of 2008 wrecked havoc across Pakistan. The North West Frontier Province and its adjoining tribal areas had the most casualties where flash floods killed 200 people overnight, literally sweeping away property and livestock of over 114 villages comprising of 11,200 houses affecting over 67,000 people. Scores of people were marooned by the floods and had to be rescued by military helicopters over several days. The scale of damage was declared high since there was no effective warning mechanism and many of these people living below poverty line had encroached into waterway active flood plains living in makeshift mud houses. 40,000 acres of cultivated land were also badly affected ruining the crops and making the survival of these already homeless people all the more stark.

RMF collaborated with Relief Foundation, a local, private, non-profit NGO that works for poverty reduction, improving quality of life of the ultra-poor and provides free medical relief to the vulnerable in far flung areas of Pakistan, to set up four free one-day medical camps for these flood victims. With a volunteer team of 15 male and female doctors and 9 paramedics and a coordinating team of RMF health staff, over 2,800 flood victims were treated during the first 2-day camp of Feb 15-16, 2009.