Earthquake in Pakistan 2005

On 8 October 2005, Pakistan was hit by one of the worst earthquakes in the last 100 years. Around 85,000 people lost their lives.

I.S.A.R. Germany helped in Pakistan

After the first reports, the I.S.A.R. Germany team was certain that it would help in the region hit by the earthquake. Contact was immediately made with the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and the Pakistani Consul General. The Consul urgently asked I.S.A.R. Germany for help. Work therefore began immediately to get the aid team on its way to Pakistan. Within a few hours, rescue specialists, dog handlers and medics were ready to go.

Several hundred injured people needed immediate help

I.S.A.R. Germany was deployed in the Muzaffarabad region in northern Pakistan. The city was hit particularly hard by the earthquake. It is located near the epicentre. Around half of the houses here were destroyed. The I.S.A.R. team set up its base camp in the city. From here, our helpers were deployed in the town itself and in the surrounding mountain villages, which could only be reached by helicopter. The I.S.A.R. teams were the first responders in the villages. Shortly after the helicopters landed, they were surrounded by several hundred injured people. Some of the most serious injuries received medical treatment. Due to the mass of injured people, the medication they had brought with them was used up relatively quickly. Further requirements were reported to the United Nations Operations Centre.

Help at the risk of one's own life

Five days after the disaster, an I.S.A.R. team in one of the mountain villages managed to locate two boys in the rubble of a collapsed building using rescue dogs. In an operation lasting several hours, a tunnel was dug to the boys, through which the children were rescued alive and largely unharmed. They were handed over to a relative.