Eye witness: surviving an earthquake with the people of Kashmir.

When an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit Kashmir on October 8, MSF was setting up a maternal health unit in Lamnian, a remote mountain village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. MSF volunteer Jan Peter Stellema was there.

"When the quake hit, the walls of our house turned to jelly. Then suddenly our house was gone and our midwife with it, buried under the rubble. Luckily we were able to dig her out, but for the people here it's horrible. We can leave anytime, but they can't. Our neighbour lost three little girls. Another man cried in my arms. He'd lost his wife and his daughter."

Realising that help wasn't going to come any time soon, the MSF team left to get supplies. Four days later they were back and running a tent hospital. UK nurse Chrissie McVeigh, was particularly struck by the severity of people's injuries.

"One little girl had virtually been split in two. The wound was infected. We sent her to be evacuated by helicopter, but there wasn't enough space. She had to wait two days, by which time the ...