Women of the Pakistan earthquake

ActionAid medics have worked hard to help those who suffered the most from the Pakistan earthquake which devasted the region in October 2005. Mothers at home, crushed by collapsing walls, suffered more than the men who were out in the open when the disaster struck.

Disease and infection is rife among the tent dwellers in the ruins of Bazargai, a mountain village in Batamori in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan and it is the women of the village who were worst affected.

ActionAid medic, Shabana Ashraf continues her rounds in the village, where every house bar one has been flattened. She is one of five staff running a medical camp in Bazargai. Operating out of two tents - one for women and one for men - it caters for around 5,000 people living in the surrounding area.

Survivors with major injuries have been taken to hospital, and the medics are now focusing their attention on keeping survivors alive through the winter. More than 100 patients are treated each day, around 30 per cent of whom already have chest infections, including potentially fatal pneumonia. Typhoid has also broken out, and scabies is rife. Diarrhoea, dysentery and depression are also common.

Shabana is one of two female medics in the camp and as such a vital resource, as some men are reluctant to allow their wives to be seen by male doctors. There were more women victims than men, for they were more likely to be at home when the earthquake struck at 8.45am. "When the women doctors came to the camp, the number of patients increased," said Dr Rubina Saigol, director of ActionAid Pakistan.

There are particular medical problems for the women here. With no toilets, men are able to use the fields at any time, but women only feel comfortable venturing out there very early in the morning or at night. The incidence of urinary tract infections is high, and women no longer have the privacy to wash and dry the strips of cotton they use during menstruation. Fifty per cent of married women are pregnant and both mothers and newborns will run the risk of tetanus and septicaemia. The camp is now hoping to establish a birthing centre.

Dr Saigol continued "A lot of time men didn't want to take their women to see a male doctor and a lot of women were denied medical care. This is a highly religious area. The idea of purdah and the four walls of the house is very strong here. Women have less access to hospitals, because of strong social traditions. Our entire emergency response is specifically geared towards helping women and children, because they are the most affected."

photo : ©Chris Steele-Perkins/ Magnum/ ActionAid