11 January 2006
ADF medical team travel to Bailgiran, Kashmir, to provide vital health care assistance

An Australian Defence Force medical team from Camp Bradman near Dhanni, Kashmir, flew by helicopter to the village of Bailgiran to provide medical aid to villagers unable to make the trip to Dhanni.

An Australian Defence Force medical team is working in Pakistan and Kashmir as part of a humanitarian mission to provide vital health care assistance to people affected by the 8 October 2005 South Asia earthquakes.

The team has established a medical centre at the remote town of Dhanni, about 20km north-east of Muzaffarabad, on the Pakistan side of the Kashmir Line Of Control.

The team, of about 140 personnel, includes medical personnel, a command element, an aviation detachment and logistics and communication personnel.

Four Black Hawk helicopters are deployed to provide essential transport and support tasks.

The helicopters give the ADF team the mobility to extend medical care from the central hub at Dhanni to assist a large number of people in the harsh terrain of the surrounding region who need medical attention as a result of the earthquake.

The Black Hawk detachment is primarily from the Australian Army 5th Aviation Regiment based in Townsville.

The health and support personnel comprise members of the Army's logistic support force based at Randwick Barracks, Sydney; a Royal Australian Air Force primary health care team from Richmond, New South Wales; and personnel drawn from a range of units across Australia, including Reserves.

20060106adf8195319_004 Captain Jada Bendall (Left) and Flight Lieutenant Tim Strickland (Right) climb a typical mountain track during their recent visit to Bailgiran. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_006 A mountain goat stops on the side of a cliff in the village of Bailgiran to feed. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_015 Total destruction. The effects of the earthquake can be seen in the remains of a house in the village of Bailgiran in the mountains near Dhanni. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_018 A local villager from Bailgiran takes a break during the re-building of his home in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_019 Flight Lieutenant Tim Strickland (right) talks to village leaders at Bailgiran about environmental health issues while Captain Jada Bendall (centre) and Corporal Adrian Miller look on. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_021 Flight Lieutenant Tim Strickland poses for a group photo with local village leaders at Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_022 Private Sheyna Veal (left) and Sergeant Stephen Davidson (centre) vaccinate children at the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum valley of Kashmir. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_025 Local villagers wait to be seen by a doctor at the temporary clinic set up at Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_030 Sergeant Stephen Davidson draws up a vaccination in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley in preparation for vaccinating local children. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_032 Local children wait patiently to be vaccinated by an Australian medical team at Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_034 A broken wardrobe sits atop a pile of rubble that was once a house in the mountain village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_037 Children play amongst the rubble that used to be houses in the mountain village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_038 A local villager walks down the mountain from what is left of his house in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_040 The roof of a house, in the village of Bailgiran, sits flat on the foundations after the devastation of the recent earthquake. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_044 Corporal Adrian Miller (standing) and Signaller Sharon Roberts (crouching) check communications in front of what is left of the Bailgiran secondary school. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_046 Corporal Peter Lonergan and members of the Pakistan Army erect a tent for the temporary medical clinic in front of the remains of the village of Bailgiran secondary school in the Neelum valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_052 The scenic beauty of snow-covered mountains and farm terraces almost conceals earthquake devastation in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley of Kashmir. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_054 An Australian Black Hawk helicopter brings a medical team to the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum valley as part of the longreach program. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_066 Tents and tarpaulins sit alongside and cover the remains of houses demolished by the recent earthquake in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_067 The remains of the secondary school in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley after the recent earthquake. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_071 Local children listen to instructions while they wait for vaccinations in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_073 A Pakistan soldier comforts a small boy after his vaccination in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_075 A local family sit on a salvaged bed outside their makeshift home in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_076 Villagers wait to see Australian Defence Force medical staff bringing day clinic health extension services to the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_081 Through the ruins, local secondary school children seen through what is left of their school in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_083 The majestic beauty of the snow covered mountains does little to mask the devastating effects of the recent earthquake in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley where the local secondary school was demolished. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_084 A scene of total devastation shows the remains of the local secondary school in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060106adf8195319_088 Children squat waiting for vaccinations (Right) as local villagers line up to see medical staff during Operation Longreach in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley. (Date taken: 06 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060106adf8195319_096 The scenic beauty of snow-covered mountains and farm terraces almost conceals earthquake devastation in the village of Bailgiran in the Neelum Valley of Kashmir. (Date taken: 08 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res	20060108adf8195319_002 Lieutenant Tamara Lee, a pharmacist with the Australian Army 1 Health Support Battalion based at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney, checks pharmaceutical supplies at Camp Bradman, near Dhanni, Kashmir. (Date taken: 08 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res
20060108adf8195319_003 Lieutenant Tamara Lee, a pharmacist with the Australian Army 1 Health Support Battalion based at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney, checks pharmaceutical supplies at Camp Bradman, near Dhanni, Kashmir. (Date taken: 08 January 2006) Low-Res | Hi-Res