How has MSF responded?
The first teams arrived in the affected areas three days after the earthquake. An intervention in the main hospitals was unnecessary as they were already receiving an important amount of aid and could address the needs, so we decided to organize mobile clinics in some of the most neglected rural areas. These were either in remote locations where access was difficult or in other sites that were less affected, but had been neglected by relief efforts. The main health issues observed in the clinics are respiratory tract infections, diarrhea, and skin diseases—all issues related to the difficult living conditions currently endured by the survivors. MSF is also offering psychological care to traumatized survivors. The emergency team has included several psychologists who have been training Indonesian psychologists—some of these Indonesian professionals had worked with MSF in the aftermath of the 2005 tsunami that also affected Sumatra, as well as another earthquake in 2007. Now we have seve
