REPORTER: David Brill
MAJOR DAVID WARD, ARMY DOCTOR: Unfortunately there are some things that we can't fix and a lot of the people have broken hearts and we can't fix that.
COLONEL ANDY SIMMS, COMMANDER AUST. FORCES IN PAKISTAN: We're very close to the epicentre so this area has taken most of the brunt so most of the damage is in this valley and the other two that run off it.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Realistically there is nothing more Australian than helping people who can't help themselves.
It's in the eyes. I have seen it before, in the gaze of people who have looked utter loss in the face. It's been my experience in the midst of such misery one finds dignity and compassion, and that is what I found here in Kashmir.
This is the famous Narleem Valley and this river forms part of the notorious Kashmir Line of Control', the disputed frontier between India and Pakistan.
CAPTAIN ANDREW BIRD, AUSTRALIAN ARMY: This is their - well, what was their healthcare facility. It's totally been destroyed. Three of the healthcare workers that were here lost their lives so at the moment this is what they have. It doesn't exist any more, that's why we're here, trying to fill that gap, but, yeah, sad story. Basically the town left with absolutely no healthcare.
People walk for miles down these narrow mountain paths in search of food, clothing and medical help. Each day a new queue forms as they wait to see the Australian doctors.
BRIGADIER SAJJAD, COMMANDER PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORCES: We had not had enough medical people to send to all the effected areas and similarly I could do everything for these people. I brought them all types of relief but this was one area where I was helpless and the moment I learnt that the Australians were coming so I selected this place because it was essentially required in this area.
This man has been carried by his friends, on his own bed, down a 7km mountain track to bring him to the Australian tent hospital in Dhani.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Can we just get a set of obs? Let's get a temperature first and then we'll work out what we're gonna do from there. What was his temperature? What was the injury? What did he initially do? Not just an injury. So it just came up like that? It's a long way to carry, isn't it? It's a long way. Can you bend? Gentle, gentle, gentle, gentle. No, no. Stop, stop, stop. Can you explain to him he has an infection in his knee and he will need to be treated with some antibiotics. He will need to go to the M.A.S.H. hospital in Musafrabad. We will organise a helicopter for him for that today but he will be OK, he will be fine. Just rest, just relax.
REPORTER: David, are you going to get him up into a chopper?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Yeah, it looks like there might be an early... ..a possibility to get him onto an aircraft early this morning, which is very, very good. Were short of stretchers. We need some more to come this afternoon on the Black Hawks, if they can.
MAN: Sure, sure. CS47 is coming this afternoon so I'll get some more stretchers. How many family has he got with him?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: One family member can go with him.
MAN: So his brother is going to go? Guys, I'll ring that in.
This small medical team has treated an average of 1,000 patients a week since they arrived here in November.
DOCTOR: She's come in with some abdominal pain and a temperature and the doctors have assessed her and she's been diagnosed with a condition called peritonitis, very likely from a ruptured appendix, which is a very, very serious condition so at the moment we are arranging to evacuate her to a hospital in Musafrabad, where she can receive an operation and definitive treatment.
Yes, helicopter. Saba, we have put the request in for the helicopter and we will find out very soon if the helicopter can come so please tell her mother that we have put the request in and we expect the helicopter will hopefully come soon. One person can go with her on the helicopter.
SABA: With her father is better.
DOCTOR: Is her father here?
SABA: Yes, her father is here.
DOCTOR: Saba can you explain to the father that his daughter has... ..she has probably got appendicitis. She has some infection in her stomach and we need to take her to the hospital in Musafrabad, she needs an operation.
SABA: Any hospital, any hospital?
DOCTOR: She will go to the American hospital. It's pretty cold up in the choppers so we're going to keep her as warm as possible.
The US hospital, or M.A.S.H, is half an hour away by helicopter in the Pakistani Kashmir capital, Musafrabad. Without the Australians and the helicopters this little girl would have died.
Helicopters are vital in this mountainous terrain. There are often no roads. It can take eight or nine hours to walk just a few kilometres.
AUSTRALIAN ARMY OFFICER: So the mission for this morning, guys, is to, for the recon group to conduct a recon of Quasiabad in order to determine their requirements for Operation Longreach. That is essentially the mission for this morning. It is not a 'do', it is a 'see' to come back and compile. Stay in pairs, stay reasonably close. If you are going to wander off somewhere I want to know so we can keep tabs on one another and we will have Pak Mill up there for protection so that shouldn't be an issue. Are there any questions on actions on?
OFFICER 2: Did we crack the Pak Mill issue? Have we asked them to ensure that they don't heard people out of the way but in fact to allow us to move around and communicate with people?
Pak Mill is defence jargon for Pakistani Army. The military has information that insurgents could be active in these mountains. Security is a high priority.
These mountain sides are doted with villages that can only be reached by foot or by chopper. This is the first time this village has been visited by the military since the earthquake. More than a third of their village community was killed, including their village chief. Repeatedly people tell me their survival through this winter is in God's hands.
Certainly, these tents offer little protection against the Himalayan snow. Sheets of corrugated iron have been issued by the government to stop the heavy snow collapsing the tents, but serious burns have resulted from fires lit inside the tents to ward off the bitter cold. For some, though, the cold is not just physical. These women are now isolated and alone since all the men in their lives died in the earthquake.
Outside the Australians' tent hospital the queues continue but there's no medication for broken hearts.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: This is Makbul. He has come down today with his son and he is having some problems sleeping and he is having some problems with depression. He lost two of his children in the earthquake.
REPORTER: Can I ask what happened? How did they...? What happened in the actual quake?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Can we ask Makbul what happened in the earthquake? Have you lost any family?
MAKBUL (Translation): Two sons, two sons. One was seven and the other was ten, everything is gone. Theres little left of my life, Ive lost my health,I stay up all night what can I do?
DOCTOR: We're just doing what we can.
REPORTER: David, obviously, you have seen a lot of this in the last week or so but it is obviously very upsetting for you. Just tell me why you're feeling like this. I understand but so we can...
MAJOR DAVID WARD: There's many, many stories. Every patient has a similar story and it builds up after a while and it's hard. You see it every day and every now and then it builds up a bit too much. I don't think you could be normal and not feel it. We have all had our times when it gets a bit much but we just do everything we can to help - that's what we're here for.
REPORTER: What were you thinking just then?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: I was thinking about my family, actually. It's hard not to.
REPORTER: How lucky we are in many ways?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Yeah.
REPORTER: They are such beautiful people.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Yeah. His child is the same age as my child. Like I said there is only so much we can fix, you know? We can't fix everything - I wish we could. Sameena, not you, too?
REPORTER: Sameena, do you hope to rebuild your medical practice later?
SAMEENA: Yeah, inshallah. After some days, some months, I start my clinic. I try my best.
REPORTER: Are you the only doctor here?
SAMEENA: Before earthquake there were many doctors and after I am the only one.
REPORTER: It's been very hard for you, too, obviously?
SAMEENA: Because my husband also died.
REPORTER: Your husband died?
SAMEENA: Yeah. I have two kids. Yeah, two children. Thanks God they are OK.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Sameena, tell him it is very important to talk to people in the village, to talk to friends, to talk to family that is left. It is very important not to keep it all inside because it is very hard.
MAJOR DAVID WARD, ARMY DOCTOR: Unfortunately there are some things that we can't fix and a lot of the people have broken hearts and we can't fix that.
COLONEL ANDY SIMMS, COMMANDER AUST. FORCES IN PAKISTAN: We're very close to the epicentre so this area has taken most of the brunt so most of the damage is in this valley and the other two that run off it.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Realistically there is nothing more Australian than helping people who can't help themselves.
It's in the eyes. I have seen it before, in the gaze of people who have looked utter loss in the face. It's been my experience in the midst of such misery one finds dignity and compassion, and that is what I found here in Kashmir.
This is the famous Narleem Valley and this river forms part of the notorious Kashmir Line of Control', the disputed frontier between India and Pakistan.
CAPTAIN ANDREW BIRD, AUSTRALIAN ARMY: This is their - well, what was their healthcare facility. It's totally been destroyed. Three of the healthcare workers that were here lost their lives so at the moment this is what they have. It doesn't exist any more, that's why we're here, trying to fill that gap, but, yeah, sad story. Basically the town left with absolutely no healthcare.
People walk for miles down these narrow mountain paths in search of food, clothing and medical help. Each day a new queue forms as they wait to see the Australian doctors.
BRIGADIER SAJJAD, COMMANDER PAKISTAN DEFENCE FORCES: We had not had enough medical people to send to all the effected areas and similarly I could do everything for these people. I brought them all types of relief but this was one area where I was helpless and the moment I learnt that the Australians were coming so I selected this place because it was essentially required in this area.
This man has been carried by his friends, on his own bed, down a 7km mountain track to bring him to the Australian tent hospital in Dhani.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Can we just get a set of obs? Let's get a temperature first and then we'll work out what we're gonna do from there. What was his temperature? What was the injury? What did he initially do? Not just an injury. So it just came up like that? It's a long way to carry, isn't it? It's a long way. Can you bend? Gentle, gentle, gentle, gentle. No, no. Stop, stop, stop. Can you explain to him he has an infection in his knee and he will need to be treated with some antibiotics. He will need to go to the M.A.S.H. hospital in Musafrabad. We will organise a helicopter for him for that today but he will be OK, he will be fine. Just rest, just relax.
REPORTER: David, are you going to get him up into a chopper?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Yeah, it looks like there might be an early... ..a possibility to get him onto an aircraft early this morning, which is very, very good. Were short of stretchers. We need some more to come this afternoon on the Black Hawks, if they can.
MAN: Sure, sure. CS47 is coming this afternoon so I'll get some more stretchers. How many family has he got with him?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: One family member can go with him.
MAN: So his brother is going to go? Guys, I'll ring that in.
This small medical team has treated an average of 1,000 patients a week since they arrived here in November.
DOCTOR: She's come in with some abdominal pain and a temperature and the doctors have assessed her and she's been diagnosed with a condition called peritonitis, very likely from a ruptured appendix, which is a very, very serious condition so at the moment we are arranging to evacuate her to a hospital in Musafrabad, where she can receive an operation and definitive treatment.
Yes, helicopter. Saba, we have put the request in for the helicopter and we will find out very soon if the helicopter can come so please tell her mother that we have put the request in and we expect the helicopter will hopefully come soon. One person can go with her on the helicopter.
SABA: With her father is better.
DOCTOR: Is her father here?
SABA: Yes, her father is here.
DOCTOR: Saba can you explain to the father that his daughter has... ..she has probably got appendicitis. She has some infection in her stomach and we need to take her to the hospital in Musafrabad, she needs an operation.
SABA: Any hospital, any hospital?
DOCTOR: She will go to the American hospital. It's pretty cold up in the choppers so we're going to keep her as warm as possible.
The US hospital, or M.A.S.H, is half an hour away by helicopter in the Pakistani Kashmir capital, Musafrabad. Without the Australians and the helicopters this little girl would have died.
Helicopters are vital in this mountainous terrain. There are often no roads. It can take eight or nine hours to walk just a few kilometres.
AUSTRALIAN ARMY OFFICER: So the mission for this morning, guys, is to, for the recon group to conduct a recon of Quasiabad in order to determine their requirements for Operation Longreach. That is essentially the mission for this morning. It is not a 'do', it is a 'see' to come back and compile. Stay in pairs, stay reasonably close. If you are going to wander off somewhere I want to know so we can keep tabs on one another and we will have Pak Mill up there for protection so that shouldn't be an issue. Are there any questions on actions on?
OFFICER 2: Did we crack the Pak Mill issue? Have we asked them to ensure that they don't heard people out of the way but in fact to allow us to move around and communicate with people?
Pak Mill is defence jargon for Pakistani Army. The military has information that insurgents could be active in these mountains. Security is a high priority.
These mountain sides are doted with villages that can only be reached by foot or by chopper. This is the first time this village has been visited by the military since the earthquake. More than a third of their village community was killed, including their village chief. Repeatedly people tell me their survival through this winter is in God's hands.
Certainly, these tents offer little protection against the Himalayan snow. Sheets of corrugated iron have been issued by the government to stop the heavy snow collapsing the tents, but serious burns have resulted from fires lit inside the tents to ward off the bitter cold. For some, though, the cold is not just physical. These women are now isolated and alone since all the men in their lives died in the earthquake.
Outside the Australians' tent hospital the queues continue but there's no medication for broken hearts.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: This is Makbul. He has come down today with his son and he is having some problems sleeping and he is having some problems with depression. He lost two of his children in the earthquake.
REPORTER: Can I ask what happened? How did they...? What happened in the actual quake?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Can we ask Makbul what happened in the earthquake? Have you lost any family?
MAKBUL (Translation): Two sons, two sons. One was seven and the other was ten, everything is gone. Theres little left of my life, Ive lost my health,I stay up all night what can I do?
DOCTOR: We're just doing what we can.
REPORTER: David, obviously, you have seen a lot of this in the last week or so but it is obviously very upsetting for you. Just tell me why you're feeling like this. I understand but so we can...
MAJOR DAVID WARD: There's many, many stories. Every patient has a similar story and it builds up after a while and it's hard. You see it every day and every now and then it builds up a bit too much. I don't think you could be normal and not feel it. We have all had our times when it gets a bit much but we just do everything we can to help - that's what we're here for.
REPORTER: What were you thinking just then?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: I was thinking about my family, actually. It's hard not to.
REPORTER: How lucky we are in many ways?
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Yeah.
REPORTER: They are such beautiful people.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Yeah. His child is the same age as my child. Like I said there is only so much we can fix, you know? We can't fix everything - I wish we could. Sameena, not you, too?
REPORTER: Sameena, do you hope to rebuild your medical practice later?
SAMEENA: Yeah, inshallah. After some days, some months, I start my clinic. I try my best.
REPORTER: Are you the only doctor here?
SAMEENA: Before earthquake there were many doctors and after I am the only one.
REPORTER: It's been very hard for you, too, obviously?
SAMEENA: Because my husband also died.
REPORTER: Your husband died?
SAMEENA: Yeah. I have two kids. Yeah, two children. Thanks God they are OK.
MAJOR DAVID WARD: Sameena, tell him it is very important to talk to people in the village, to talk to friends, to talk to family that is left. It is very important not to keep it all inside because it is very hard.