IOM teams set response standards in quake zone
By Saad Saud

ISLAMABAD—Rapid Response Teams of International Organization for Migration in Pakistan, have set up disaster response standards by reacting fast to emergency situations in earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan.
With the start of winter in the earthquake affected areas, speed of response to calls is very important. Recently after receiving a call for urgent help from a vulnerable community in the Neelum Valley, three IOM Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) based in Muzaffarabad rushed to the area. The community in the village of Khanian were apparently suffering from a “water-borne disease”. With an approximate population of 5,000, in this area, children were suffering the most.
Six children have died of the disease in just two days, RRT doctors carried out a rapid assessment of the area and found most of the children had diarrhoea or gastroenteritis-like symptoms. Five serious cases along with their parents were evacuated immediately in IOM vehicles to AIMS Hospital Muzaffarabad, 20 kilometres from Khanian village. Sixteen more children from the village were taken to Muzaffarabad hospital by the evening after coordination with WHO, UNICEF and the hospital.
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